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SEVEN YEARS' TRAVEL 



CENTRAL AMERICA, 



NORTHERN MEXICO, AND THE FAR WEST OF 
THE UNITED STATES. 



SEVEN YEARS' TEAYEL 



CENTRAL AMERICA, 



NORTHERN MEXICO, AND THE FAR WEST OF 
THE UNITED STATES. 



BY JULIUS FROEBEL. 



WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS. 




LONDON: 
RICHARD BENTLEY, 

IJnblisIjcr ht ©rbinarg fa Her |Wajcsfm 
M.DCCC.L1X. 




The right of Translation is reserved. 






LONDON : PRINTED BY W, CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET, 
AND CHARING CROSS. 



$b2l 



CONTENTS. 

BOOK I. 

RAMBLES IN NICARAGUA, &c. 

CHAPTER I. 

Departure from New York — At Sea — Chagres — The American Town and 
the Town of the Natives — Features of Life — San Juan del Norte — Situ- 
ation and Vicissitudes in the recent History of the Town — Elements of 
Population .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Page 3 

CHAPTER II. 

Journey into the Interior — Scenery on the River — Old Castle of San Juan — 
San Carlos — Aspect of the Lake of Nicaragua — Adventures of a young 
German amongst the Indians of the Rio Frio — Science held in high Esteem 
in Spanish America — Canoe Navigation on the Lake — Arrival at Gra- 
nada .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 18 

CHAPTER III. 

Granada and its Environs — Geological Character of the Soil — Volcanic 
Fissures — Habitations of the Lower Classes — Indian Population — Ex- 
cursions in the Neighbourhood — The Playa — Los Corrales — La Joya -*- 
— Lake Songozana of Oviedo — Laguna de Salinas — Home Life of the 
Author — Tame Animals kept in the House — Slaveholding Ants — Ni- 
caraguan Scholars, and Reputation of German Philosophers . . . . 29 

CHAPTER IV. 

Indian Village of Jinotepet — Columnar Cactus and Yucca- trees — Dividing 
Ridge between the Pacific and the Atlantic — Climate of this Region — 
Cultivation of Sugar and Coffee — Boundary-line between different Indian 
Races — Indian Languages of Nicaragua — Aztec "Words in the Spanish 
Idiom of the Country — Geographical Names of Aztec Origin — Pretended 
Gold Mines — Indian Hospitality . . . . . . . . . . 48 



Vi CONTENTS. 



CHAPTEE V. 



A Trip to Leon — Tipitapa — Connexion between the two Lakes interrupted 
— Decreasing Level of the Lake of Managua — Hot Sulphur Springs — A 
Saint's Day — Adam and Eve — Theatrical Entertainment — Managua 
and Mateares — Silver Ore and Lignite — Amber found in Nicaragua — 
Nagarote — The Volcanic Chain of the Maribios — Pueblo Nuevo — The 
Chachalagua — Leon — G eneral Mufioz — The Cathedral — Proletarians 
of Leon — A French Colonization Project — Gold Mines of Matagalpa — 
Extensive Gold Region . . . . . . . . . , ♦ . Page 62 



CHAPTEE VI. 

Excursions in the Neighbourhood of Leon, and Return to Granada — The 
Mud Volcanoes of San Jazinto and Tisate — The Volcano of Telica - — 
Village of Telica — A Drama represented by the Inhabitants — Musical 
Instrument of pretended Indian Origin — Ascent of the Mountain — The 
Crater — View from the Summit — Remarks concerning the Orography of 
Nicaragua — Nindiri — Old Stream of Lava — Masaya . . . . 76 



CHAPTEE VII. 

Visit to the Island of Ometepe and the Isthmus of Rivas — Indian Anti- 
pathies — Violent Attack of Fever — Muyogalpa — Cutaneous Diseases — 
The Two peaks — Meteorological Phenomena — Return to the Mainland 
— Gothic Blood — Rivas — Slope to the Pacific — Brito — A Jicaral — 
La Concordia — A Californian Vessel in Search of an Imaginary Town — 
San Juan del Sur — Nagascolo — The Transit Road — Slow Combustion 
of Wood — Wasps and their Sense of Hearing — Virgin Bay — Rio de las 
Lajas — Political Characters : Laureano Pineda and Fruto Chamorro 92 



CHAPTEE VIII. 

An Excursion to the Province of Chontales and to Upper Mosquitia — Estero 
Panaloya — The Jicarales — Masapa — Savanas on Fire — Parallel Chains 

— Juigalpa — Opals in Nicaragua — Old Indian Fortifications — The Gold 
Region — The Aquilucho — Minerals — Acoyapa — Snakes in Nicaragua 

— A Beautiful Species of Spoonbill — The Supa, or Pijivaye — The Nan- 
cite — The Edge of the Table-Land — Hydrographical Remarks — Change 
of Scenery — View from the Summit — Climate of the Table-Land — The 
Woolwa Indians and the Ancient Chontalli — Village of Lovago and its 
Population — Aztec Colonies — Manners of the Wool was — Hacienda de 
San Jose' — Nicaraguan Curassows — A White Harpy .. ..116 



CONTENTS. vii 



CHAPTER IX. 



State of Political Affairs in Nicaragua — The Different Parties — Inter- 
ference of Foreign Interests — ■ The Canal Project and the Accessory Transit 
Company — Outbreak of the Civil War of 1851 — The Author hastens to 
Leon — Insecurity of the Road — The Aristocracy of Science and Virtue — 
Arrival at Leon — The Leonese Government protests against the Contract 
with the Transit Company — General Munoz, his Character, his Party 
Position, and his Death — Character, Political Career, and Death of Fruto 
Chamorro — The Author returns to Granada, and thence to the United 
States Page 141 



CHAPTER X. 

A Visit to Honduras — Belize — An Excursion on the River — Sites and 
Scenery — Information in Reference to the Remnants of the Belgian 
Colony of St. Thomas — The Boom — Ruins in British Honduras — 
Manati Lagoon — Negro Settlement — Types of the Black Race under 
favourable Circumstances — Manati Cave — Subterranean Rivers — Geo- 
logical Remarks .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 160 



CHAPTER XI. 

Visit to Honduras, continued — Omoa — Pleasant Navigation of the Gulf of 
Honduras — Carib Villages of the British Territory — The Zapodilla Keys 
— Cerro de Guyamel — Omoa — The Malinche, or the Guacamayo — 
Wild Scenery in the Neighbourhood — Climatic Influences of Northerly 
Winds — Oak Trees by the side of Cocoa Palms — Northern Birds of Pas- 
sage — Excursion to the Northern Terminus of the Honduras Inter-Oceanic 
Railway — Carib Village of Tulian — Severity of Caribean Criminal Jus- 
tice — Port Cortez and Alvarado Lagoon — Prospects of this Locality — 
The Honduras Inter-Oceanic Railway .. .. .. .. 177 

CHAPTER XII. 

General Remarks on Central America — Geographical Position and Political 
Importance — Natural Advantages and Future Prospects — How the 
Interests of England and those of the United States, in reference to the 
Central American Question, could be harmonized — European Immigra- 
tion — Prejudices against the Climate refuted — Native Labourers fully 
available, and how to be treated .. .. .. .. ... 192 



viu CONTENTS. 

BOOK II. 

JOURNEY TO THE NORTH OF MEXICO, &c. 

CHAPTER I. 

Objects of the Journey — Trade with Chihuahua — From New York to the 
Frontier of Missouri — Railway Journey and Scenery between New York 
and Lake Erie — Cincinnati — On the Ohio, the Mississippi, and the Mis- 
souri — Western Philosophers — Dangers by Steamers — Weyne City — 
Independence . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 203 

CHAPTER II. 

Stay at Independence — Frontier Places of Missouri — Caravans of Traders 
and Emigrants — Means of Conveyance — Northern and Southern Metho- 
dists — Negro Belief — Censorship and Indulgence — A Religious Curiosity 
— Historical and Political Views — - A Political Murder — Preparations for 
Departure — Beyond the Limits of Civilization .. .. 216 

CHAPTER III. 

The Caravan, its Arrangements — Waggons, Freight and Requirements for 
the Journey — The Commander and his Men — Anglo-Americans and 
Mexicans — Man and Animal — ■ Characteristic of the Mule — Aristocrats, 
Mes- alliances, Parvenus, and Rabble in the Animal Kingdom — The First 
Breaking-in and Harnessing Wild Mules — The Corral — Order of Journey 
and Prairie Roads — The Camp and its Comforts — Night Watches, and 
Usages of Caravan Life — Astronomical and Musical Amusements — Dan- 
gerous Charms of the Wilderness . . . . . . . . . . 225 

CHAPTER IV. 

Departure from Independence — Outskirts of the Prairie — Commencement of 
the Caravan Journey — Indian Signal Station — Wolves and Indians — 
Uncomfortable Night-Quarters — Journey by Moonlight — Solitude of the 
Prairie — Breeds of Dogs, and Races of Men — Geological Remarks — The 
Prairie — Council Grove — Ycrba-loco — Small Prairie Rivers — Land- 
scape Scenery — Buffalo Herds, and Hunting — Marmots and their Vil- 
lages — Their Companionship with Owls and Rattlesnakes — Californian 
Ground-Squirrel — Meteorological Observations . . . . . . 242 



CONTENTS. ix 



CHAPTEB V. 



Continuation — The Arkansas — Wolves — A Stampede — Comanches and 
Kiowas — Visit of Chiefs — Indian Mourning, and Military Decorations — 
Fort Atkinson — Further Intercourse with the Kiowas — Pillaging Expe- 
ditions to Mexico, and Mexican Prisoners — Use of the Spanish Language 
among the Prairie-Indians — Gradual Destruction of the Character of the 
Pace — Indian Tribes converted into Bands of Robbers — Eastern Limit 
of the Apaches — Indian Rock-tomb — Indian Ideas of a Future Life — 
Slave Trade among the Indians — Crossing the River — Indian Visits to 
the Camp — A Step from the Sublime to the Ridiculous .. Page 261 



CHAPTER VI. 

Continuation — -Country between the Arkansas and the Cimarron — Plants 
and Zones of Vegetation in Miniature — Water for Drinking and Washing 

— Wild-ducks — A Fugitive Murderer visits our Camp — Deserters from 
the Western Forts — Nature of the Soil — The Tarantula ■ — 'Effects of 
Refraction — Valley of the Cimarron — The River — Electric Phenomena 

— Thunderstorm — Herds of Antelopes — The Bed of the Cimarron sud- 
denly filled with Water — Passage of the River — Aspect of the Country 

— Juniper-bushes — Distant Mountains — Curiosity of the Antelopes — 
The Rabbit's Ears — Fissure in the Lava — The Round Mound — Spurs of 
the Raton Mountains — Cienagas and Water-fowl — The Canadian — The 
Canon of the Ocate — Waggon Mounds — Salt Lake — Forests — La Mora 

— Settlements, and Agriculture — A Projected Town — A Day of Rest for 
Cattle and Men — Watershed between the Mississippi and the Rio 
Grande 277 



CHAPTER VII. 

Continuation — Journey along the Edge of the Plateau on the Eastern Side 
of the Rio Grande ■ — The Upper Pecos Valleys — Character of the Country 
— Breeding of Sheep — Caravan Law — Mexicans in Service of Anglo- 
American Masters — Anton Chico — Canon Blanco — Cold Nights — Sin- 
gular Hospitality and Corresponding Reward — Plateau of Manzanas — 
Landscape Scenery — Ruins and Mountain-Pass of Cuarra — Larks, Mag- 
pies, and Daisies in New Mexico — Descent into the Valley — Steep Allu- 
vial Terraces — Vegetation — Volcanic Hills in the Valley — View from 
the Summit — Tree Vegetation near the River — Water-fowl — La 
Joyita 293 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER tin. 

Valley of the Eio Grande — Irrigation Canals — Encampment near La Joyita 
— Visit of the Apaches — Indian Hieroglyphics — Augitic Lava over the 
alluvial Masses of the Valley — The River "breaks through a Bar of Lava 
— Water-fowl, and ill Success in Hunting — Hills of Drift Sand — Ex- 
cesses of our Waggoners — A View of Socorro — Valley of Valverde — 
Basalt — Bushes of the Mezquite — Rattlesnakes — Tarantulas — Quails 
— The Paisano — San Cristoval — Desert of the Dead — Geological Re- 
marks, and Landscape Scenery — A Vegetable Monster — Donana — Sierra 
de los O'rganos — Fruit — Fletcher's Rancho — A Memento Mori — De- 
serters from Fort Fillmore — Grounds of Discontent — Narrows of the 
Rio Grande near El Paso — Franklin and Macgoffinville .. Page 307 



CHAPTER IX. 

El Paso and its Environs — Character of Landscape — Productions — Trees 
and Silver Ore in the Mountains — Strata of Hills near Franklin — Inse- 
curity of the Country — Pueblo Indians — Col. Langberg's Survey of the 
Mexican Eastern Frontier — Negotiation with the Custom-House Autho- 
rities, and their Treachery — Continuation of Journey — Two Roads — 
Armed Travellers and Mexican Cavalry — Unsuccessful Military Colonies 

— Guadalupe — Expedition of the Inhabitants — Topography of the Road : 
El Cantarecio — Pass over the Sierra de la Ventana — Charcos del Grado 

— Whirlwind and Pillars of Dust — Cerro de Lucero and Ojo de Lucero 

— Spring at the top of a Sand Hillock — Efflorescences of Soda — 
Laguna de los Patos, and Character of the Plain — Ojo de la Laguna — 
Carrizal — Former Wealth of the Locality — Ojo Caliente — Fish in Hot 
Water — Chihuate — Bones of Men and Animals — Great Cattle Hacienda 

— Herd of Antelopes — Laguna de Encinillas — Arrival at Chihuahua 

328 



CHAPTER X. 

Sojourn at Chihuahua — Situation, Name, ancient Splendour, and present 
Decay of the Town — -Silver Scoria as a Building Material — Aqueduct — 
Climate and Physiological Influences — Insecurity of the Country — His- 
tory of the later Indian Fights in North Mexico — Examples of Mexican 
Bravery — Government Measures — Excursions — Cerro Grande — Rough- 
riding and Mexican Horses — Hunting Party — Santa Eulalia and its 
Silver Mines 342 



CONTENTS. xi 



CHAPTEE XI. 



"Western Region of the State of Chihuahua — Jesus Dominguez — " Nove- 
dades " — Canada del Fresno — Different Character of Vegetation — Plastic 
Beauty of Mexican Scenery — Santa Ysabel — Mexican Country People — 
Hospitality aud Simplicity of Manners — Romance in North Mexican Life 
— The Table-Land — The Bufa de Cosihuiriachic and the Sierra Madre — 
Orological Remarks — Pass and Valley of Coyachic — Lakes on the Table- 
Land — The Laguna de Castilla and its Environs — Valley of the Rio de 
Papigochic and Watershed to the Pacific Ocean — Villa de la Concepcion 
and other Places in the Valley — Statistics of the Mines of Jesus Maria — 
The Tarumare Indians and their Customs — Cretaceous Formation in the 
Sierra Madre — Diminution and Restoration of the Mexican Population — 
Episodes of Mexican Life — A Robber Chief — A Mexican Free-thinker — 
Unnecessary Excitement — Return to Chihuahua . . Page 361 

CHAPTER XII. 

March of General Trias' Brigade from Chihuahua to El Paso, and the Author's 
Return by the Sandhills — Cause of this Military Movement ■ — The 
Mesilla Valley — Accompanying Circumstances of Mexican Politics — 
Proclamation of the Garrison of Chihuahua — Don Angel Trias — De- 
parture of the Brigade — In what Capacity accompanied by the Author — 
March, and Camp Scenes — Important Intelligence — Burning Prairies 
and Insolence of the Indians — El Sause — Sheep herded with Artillery 
■ — Hacienda de Encinillas — Ojo de la Laguna — Plan de Alamos — El 
Carmen — Punta de Agua, Disappearing River — Alamos de Pena and 
Reappearing River — Carrizal — Forced March of Eighty-four English 
Miles in Twenty-four Hours — El Paso — Electric Bed — Return — Ojo 
de Samalayuca — Drive over the Sandhills and Natural Flower-garden of 
gigantic proportions .. .. .. .. .. .. 390 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Return to the United States — From Chihuahua to the Presidio del Norte — 
Magnificent Desert Scenery — The Presidio and its Environs — The 
Nortenos — Leaton's Fort — An Episode of the Middle Ages — Orological 
Features of the Country from the Presidio to San Antonio de Bexar — 
Details of the Journey — Watering-places — A Cuguar Lair — El Saucillo 

— Porphyry Terrace of San Este'van — Ojo del Berendo — Puerto del 
Paisano, and Ojo del Paisano — Ojo del Leon — Breakfast with a Cuguar 

— Agua Delgada, and Road from El Paso — Ojo de Ahuancha — Ojo Es- 
condido — Vegetation at the end of May — The Rio Pecos — Post from 
El Paso and bearded Nursemaids — Life Oak Creek — Howard Springs — 
Strayed Buffalo — Trees and Shrubs between Pecos and Devil's River — 
Valley of this last — Wild Scenery — Indian Brutality — Gloomy Wilder- 



xii CONTENTS. 

ness — The Devil's River again — Old Hut and terrible Recollections — 
Character of the Country farther to the East — Abundant Game — Mili- 
tary Station — First Settlement on the Road — Return to Civilization — 
Stay at San Antonio — German Settlement on the Upper Guadalupe — 
Sudden Rise of Texan Rivers — Dangerous Adventure — Indianola — Re- 
turn to New York . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 404 



BOOK III. 

JOURNEY FROM TEXAS TO CALIFORNIA, &c. 



CHAPTER I. 

From New York to San Antonio — New Orleans — Galveston and Port Lavaca 
after the Epidemic — Journey to San Antonio — News from the Camp — 
Sickness among the Mules — Rattlesnake Bites, and a Poisonous Caterpillar 

— A Fight, and American Opinion on it — Neighbourhood of San Antonio 

— Climate in the Winter — The River and its Sources — Subterranean 
Watercourses in Western Texas — Changes in the Physical Geography of 
the Country — Adventures of a young German — Prince Bonaparte — Re- 
miniscences of Texan Desperadoes . . . . . . . . 431 

CHAPTER II. 

The Author returns to the Coast — Money-Transport on the Matagorda Bay — 
"A Norther," and an Opportunity of getting warm in it — Starting of 
the Caravan from Port Lavaca — Fragment of the Author's Diary, Charac- 
terizing a Texan Journey by Freight- Waggons — Arrival of the Caravan 
at San Antonio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442 

CHAPTER III. 

Journey from San Antonio to El Paso — Appearance of Trap in the Limestone 

— A Suspicious-looking Hermit — A Tanko Indian — A warm ' Norther ' 

— Fossil Fish — Geese and Pelicans — Turkeys, Eagles, and Beavers — 
Meeting with Friends on the Pecos — Human Skeletons — Road to El Paso 

— Fire in the Prairie — Warm Wind, Dust, and Electric Sparks — Elec- 
trical Phenomena — Snow Storm — Valleys and Defiles of the Limpias — 
Limpia Porphyry — Harmony in the Physiognomy of Nature — Meeting 
with Apaches — Alamos de San Juan — A Human Corpse — Scenery on 
the Summit of the Plateau — Hardships of Travelling — The Dead Man's 
Hole — Metalliferous Veins — Eagle Mountains and Eagle Spring — Yucca- 
wood — The Rio Grande — A Rocky Defile — Gypsum Formation in the 
Alluvial Masses — Arrival at the Settlements — San Eleazario — Socorro, 
Ysleta, and El Paso 451 



CONTENTS. xm 



CHAPTER IV. 



New Custom-house Regulations on the Mexican Frontier — Continuation of 
the Journey to California — Mexican Passport System — Commencement 
of Spring Vegetation in the Sand — Crossing the Eio Grande — Valley of 
Mesilla — Geological Features — A Murderer joins our Party — Smallpox 
effects a Life Insurance — Pdo de los Mimbres — Ojo de Inez — Long 
March without Water — Dry Lagoon — Natural "Wells — A beautiful 
Spring and Indian Beastliness — Guadalupe Pass — San Bernardino — 
Origin of the Rio Yaqui — Monument with Indian Hieroglyphics — 
Springs of the Rio de San Pedro — Apaches — Charming Valleys — Strata 
of Conglomerate — Tmpassable Mountain Pass — Santa Cruz Page 470 

CHAPTER V. 

River and Valley of Santa Cruz — Landscape Scenery — Hacienda de la Cala- 
basa and its German Inhabitants — Fights -with the Apaches — The old 
Mission of Tumacacori — Travelling Companions — Saguarro, or the Giant 
Cactus — San Xavier del Bac — Old Acquaintances — Christian Pimas — 
European Adventurers in the Service of a Sonora private Gentleman — 
Tubac — Tucson — A Desert of Dust and Clay — Isolated Pyramid of Rock 

— Scenes in the Desert — Gila Lagoon — Heathen Pimas — The Mezquite 
Bean — Idyllic Scenes, and Character of the Pimas.. .. .. 493 

CHAPTER VI. 

Journey down the Gila — Casas Blancas — Campo Grande — Hydro-geological 
Remarks — The Cocomaricopas — Ethnological Remarks from the Narra- 
tive of their Chief — Hair and singular Head-dresses — Robbers and Mur- 
derers in our Camp — Insecurity of the Gila and Colorado Region — 
Revolutionary Movement in Sonora — Valley Pass and Rocky Desert — 
Heat of the Gila Valley — The Chief of the Pimas, and indescribable Music 
— ■ Hickey's Hollow — Annual Grasses — Lava Terraces of the Gila Valley 

— Indian Hieroglyphics — Opinion as to their Meaning — Footpath worn 
in the Rocks of a Mountain Summit — Conjectures as to the Age of the 
Hieroglyphics — A Party of Cocopas in our Camp — View from Summit of 
Mountain — Arrival at the Colorado — Camp Yuma — The Yuma Indians 

— Colorado City — Passage of Steamer — Crossing the Colorado . . 509 

CHAPTER VII. 

From the Colorado to Los Angeles — The Desert — Old Sea-shore — Discharge 
of Water from the Colorado into the Desert — Different Qualities of the 
Soil — Toads and Frogs in the Desert — The Little Lagoon — Dead Fish — 
Mountain Chains — Rain Water — The Stony Desert and the Gypsum 
Desert — Bones of destroved Herds of Cattle — Mineralosdcal Ants — 



xiv CONTENTS. 

General Character of the Country from hence to Los Angeles — Extent of 
the North American Steppes — Region of Annual Grasses and Plants — 
Wild Cerealia — The Original Cause of the Absence of Trees is of a 
Geological Nature — Yallecito — A half-starved Man — San Felipe — 
Rocky Pass — Camphor Scent of the Plants — Warner's Rancho — Hot 
Sulphur Springs — Californian Indians — Large Herds' of Cattle — Grass 
and Clover Seed as natural Fodder for Cattle — Santa Ana — One Meteoro- 
logical Region encroaching upon another — Colonel Williams's Rancho — 
An Expensive Shepherd — We share the Flesh of Thirty Pigs with the 
Vultures — Extensive use of Strychnine — Tertiary Group of Hills — 
Asphalt Springs — Los Angeles — Return to Civilization . . Page 530 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Physical Geography of the North American Continent — Retrospect of its 
Orologic Relations — Southern Termination of the Rocky Mountains on 
the Upper Rio Grande — Their Southern Equivalents — Sierra Madre — 
Frequency of the Name — The Great Sierra Madre of Cinaloa and Sonora 

— Its Northern Equivalent in the Californian Mountain- system — Interior 
Longitudinal Basin of the Western Half of the Continent — Depression of 
the Plateau between the Middle Rio Grande and the Middle Gila . . 550 

CHAPTER IX. 

Los Angeles and the South of California — Situation of the Town and Climate 

— Orchards and Vineyards — Exportation of Fruit and Grapes — Produc- 
tion of Wine — Other Resources of the Country — No Gold Mines in this 
Part of the State — Indians and Mexicans — Criminals and Desperadoes 
from the North withdrawing hither — Murders — Departure for San Fran- 
cisco — Mist on the Coast — Monterey — Aspect of the Country — A 
Whale — Fisheries of Monterey — The Golden Gate and Bay of San Fran- 
cisco — Situation of the Town .. .. .. .. .. 561 

CHAPTER X. 

San Francisco — Elements and Character of Society — The Romance of UtilL 
tarianism — A List of Crime and Bloodshed — Points of Comparison — 
Californian Life distinguished by extraordinary Acuteness of Intellect and 
Energy of Action — Strange Remedies for strange Evils — Satisfactory 
Result of a Social Experiment — Natural Character of the Environs of San 
Francisco — The Climate and its Moral Influence — Excursions in the 
Vicinity — The Redwoods — Scenery of the Coast Range — San Jose — 
Artesian Wells — Quicksilver Mines of New Almaden .. .. 571 

CHAPTER XI. 

Eastward Bound — Filibusters on Board — William Walker — Return to New 
York 586 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



>*«< 



/ 



View taken from the edge of the Table-land of Upper 

Mosquitia .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Book I. Chap. 8. 

V Castle of Omoa .. .. .. .. .. .. .. „ I. „ 11. 



Sierra de los Organos „ II. 



i View in the Mining District of Santa Eulalia, with the 

Euins of the old Mining Town of Magellanes . . .. „ II. ,, 10. 

^ Valley of the Rio Grande, near Mesilla .. .. .. „ IE. „ 12. 

v Watering-place, called the Dead Man's Hole .. .. „ III. „ 3. 

* Deserted Mission of San Xavier del Bac . . . . . . „ III. „ 5. 

/ Saguarro Trees „ III. „ 6. 



Book I. 



RAMBLES AND OBSERVATIONS 



NICARAGUA, UPPER MOSQUITIA, 



AND ON THE SHORES OF 



THE GULF OF HONDURAS. 



TRAVELS IN CENTRAL AMERICA, 



OHAPTEE I. 



Departure from New York — At Sea — Chagres — The American Town and 
the Town of the Natives — Features of Life — San Juan del Norte — 
Situation and Vicissitudes in the recent History of the Town — Elements 
of Population. 

In 1 850, the project of constructing a ship canal across the 
Nicaraguan isthmus was generally believed to be near its 
speedy realization. A corps of engineers had been sent to 
that country for the execution of the necessary surveys, 
and a favourable report was expected. Nicaragua appeared 
to me in the attractive light of a region about to become 
the theatre of an important movement in civilization, and 
my interest in the country was excited in a sufficient degree 
to induce me to visit it. 

Accordingly, I took passage in a brig lying in the port 
of New York, and destined to Chagres and San Juan del 
Norte. We sailed on the 28th of September. Calms, 
squalls and thunder-storms made the voyage tedious, though 
for these annoyances I found a kind of compensation in 
the various scenes and aspects which nature presented 
during the time. It is difficult to give an idea of the 
magic beauty of some of the sunsets I witnessed in the 
Caribbean Sea on this occasion. One evening the whole 

b 2 



i 



4 AT SEA — SUNSETS. Book I. 

western sky was of the deepest vermilion. Golden 
threads, as if of a metallic web, were spun over its surface. 
Northward and southward the burning red, with a transi- 
tion through all gradations of carmine, purple, violet, and 
indigo, ultimately passed into brown. Here and there, 
like the unveiled portion of an upper sky, some ethereal 
region beamed through between the more earthly colours 
of the lower atmosphere, and appeared in a bluish green 
of the softest hue. Broad rays of light, of alternating gold 
and azure, diverging from the sun's place behind the hori- 
zon and extending towards the zenith, passed over the 
whole picture like the transparent radii of a gigantic fan. 
Fleecy clouds, resembling rose-tinged veils, hung over us, 
while sails and masts were steeped in the mellow tints of a 
delicate lilac, which, in different shades, dyed the northern 
half of the firmament. The next morning exhibited a 
picture of similar beauty and interest. An arch of flaky 
clouds of a dark olive colour, with glowing edges of gold, 
was stretched over a wide clear expanse of the western sky. 
In the centre of this bright semicircle thick masses of a 
dark violet, resting on the sharp outline of the ocean, 
were piled up in strange forms. From west to east, on 
either side, the horizon passed through every shade of 
violet and blue, the gradual transition here and there inter- 
rupted by dusky piles of a brownish green. A veil of 
pale lilac was thrown from the zenith towards the east, 
the form of the moon glimmering through the delicate 
tissue. 

On the 5th of November, towards the evening, the 
mountains of the Isthmus of Panama came in sight: — 
isolated cones of a truncated form. On the next morning 
a hilly coast extended before us, showing a long line of 
country covered with forest, and a chain of mountains in 



Chap. I. CHAGRES — AMERICAN TOWN. 5 

the rear. By-and-bye the castle of San Lorenzo, rising 
above the mouth of the Rio de los Lagardos, became 
visible ; a few hours later we anchored on the roadstead at 
its base, and on the following morning we succeeded in 
safely entering the river, where we moored our brig close 
to the bank, just in front of the frame buildings which 
constituted the so-called "American" part of Chagres. 
The reader, I suppose, is aware that throughout America 
the term " American' is almost exclusively applied to the 
people of the United States, — a practice by which the 
"manifest destiny" of that compound of the most active 
elements of the present generation of mankind is thought- 
lessly recognized even by those who are most immediately 
threatened by it, — for in all Spanish -American countries 
" los Americanos" means the people of the great northern 
republic. 

This "American town" of Chagres, then, which most 
likely has ceased to exist since the opening of the Panama 
railroad, when Aspinwall has taken its place as the 
Atlantic terminus of the isthmus route, was situated on 
the left bank of the river, while on the opposite side, in a 
nook formed by the hill of San Lorenzo, stood the "village 
of the natives" which, as it existed before the time of 
Californian travel, may be supposed to have outlived its 
go-ahead rival, and to be still the home of a few families. 

In choosing the place of the American settlement, the 
exclusive considerations of a reckless love of gain must 
have decided. In a locality known to be sickly in the 
highest degree, it was built on the water's edge, on a low 
and muddy ground. But it stood on the deep-water side 
of the river, and brigs and schooners could unload a few 
hundred steps from the houses. These had all been sent 
ready-made from New York. The most prominent among 



6 CHAGKES — HOTEL. Book I. 

them was the Irving House — the principal " hotel" of the 
place. At New York I had seen- it advertised and recom- 
mended as a superior establishment, " in whose spacious 
halls the traveller was sure to find the comforts and com- 
modities of civilization as it exists in the temperate zone, 
combined with all the luxuries of the tropics." It was a 
large barn-like framehouse of two stories, each of them form- 
ing one single undivided room. In the lower story a 
hundred or more travellers, sitting on four long benches 
of rough boards on both sides of two long tables of the 
same material, were treated with salt pork and dried beans, 
while in the upper room several hundred persons, sick with 
fever, were either shaking from frost or burning in the 
paroxysm of heat, and those who were able to keep up were 
sitting on their boxes and trunks in order to secure them 
from being removed by the numerous thieves and robbers 
who at that time infested this dangerous highway of travel- 
ling adventurers. Between the mud-holes and fetid water- 
pools of the street in front of the houses stood gambling- 
tables surrounded by dirty ruffians, and here and there 
the door of a liquor-shop was left open, and groups of 
bearded and long-haired, unwashed and uncombed, pale- 
faced and hollow-eyed men were seen, some of them 
cautiously holding their hands over their pockets, heavily 
loaded with the proceeds of a mining season in California, 
and too heavily altogether for the unsolid condition of their 
ragged apparel. 

None of the foreign residents of Chagres had thought of 
cultivating the smallest piece of land, or even of making 
the natural productions of the neighbourhood available 
to the daily wants of life. For the two or three cows 
which were kept here, the food was brought from the 
United States, and so was the fuel for the daily uses of 



Chap.iI. HOME — ITS INFLUENCE. 7 

the kitchen, while the trees of the forest stood close to the 
houses. The most common vegetables or fruits of the 
tropics, such as plantains, bananas, yams, mandioca, &c, 
were unknown on the table of the "hotel." The natives 
did not cultivate more of these articles than they wanted 
for themselves, and nobody thought of an occupation that 
would not promise an instantaneous reward. 

Such, in 1850, was the North- American settlement at 
Chagres, — a place where, as Captain B. of our brig ob- 
served, no other than an utterly reckless man could be 
supposed to live of his own free accord. This opinion 
may have contained too severe a judgment. As to me, 
however, never more forcibly than at Chagres did the idea 
strike me, how much the development of many of the 
noblest qualities of our nature is dependent upon the in- 
fluence of a home, that is more to us than a fit place for 
doing business, — to which on the contrary we feel attached, 
— which we rejoice in improving and adorning, and in 
which we like to recognize, more or less deeply imprinted, 
the traces of our taste and character, our thought and 
action. It is not from men alone that we are entitled to 
expect a reciprocation of our affections, — nature too, and 
all the things around us, give us a reward for the in- 
terest our heart takes in them, by exerting an ennobling 
influence upon the mind. Not men alone, but even things 
cannot be neglected and degraded by us, without the bad 
consequences of such an offence against the deeper laws of 
the moral world falling back in just retribution upon our 
own characters. In neglecting and degrading the things 
around us, we unavoidably neglect and degrade ourselves. 
At a place where everybody was but a temporary resident, 
attracted by no other motive but the lust of gain, — where 
everybody, from the very day of his arrival, impatiently 



8 CHAGEES — VILLAGE OF THE NATIVES. Book I. 

counted the time to the moment when he would have 
gained enough to justify his departure, a result for which, 
at Chagres, a few years were thought rather a long period, 
— at such a place life must have a mean and debased 
aspect, without much hope of improvement. I do not 
know what may have become the character of Aspinwall, 
to which place many of the inhabitants of Chagres have 
removed not long after my visit, nor am I informed of the 
merits of social life* in the gold mines of Australia. As to 
California, however, a considerable number of those, who 
went there from all parts of the world, have justly found it 
so desirable a home from the very beginning, that even the 
mining regions of that country have soon been graced with 
the charms of home life, and nowhere it has been better 
understood than in California, that one individual intending 
to make the country his permanent home, is worth more to 
the community than a number of temporary residents, 
however important may be the business they come to 
transact for a while. 

I passed the river to examine the village of the natives. 
There is a swamp on one side of it, the fetid exhalations of 
which, mingled with the dew of the evening, were so thick 
and substantial that, beyond their affecting the olfactory 
sense, I had the taste of them on the tongue. Neverthe- 
less, this part of Chagres made a far more favourable 
impression on me than the American town. The habita- 
tions, standing on a more or less elevated ground, neatly 
built of canes, and covered with palm-leaves, were ex- 
tremely clean. Seen from the opposite side of the river, 
they represented a very picturesque view. A grove of 
palm-trees surrounds them in the rear, at the foot of 
a steep hill covered with a dense forest of exogenous 
trees, some of them of a gigantic growth, waving their 



Chap. I. TILLAGE OF THE XATIVES. 9 

wide-spread umbrella-shaped crowns high over the rest. 
The inhabitants were a mixed race of Indian, African and 
Spanish origin, using the Spanish language as a common 
medium, though some of the negroes or mulattoes living 
there were from Jamaica; they, too, having been attracted 
by the expectation of extraordinary gain. I had a conversa- 
tion with one of these men, an intelligent and fine-looking 
mulatto, who told me that, indeed, he could make a good 
deal of money here, but that the climate was too sickly, so 
that whatever he gained he had to pay to the doctor. It 
is not without interest to know how such a climate as that 
of Chagres is looked upon by a coloured native of Jamaica, 
and at the same time I am touching here upon a fact, 
unnoticed, as far as I know, in Europe, — the fact of the 
existence of a moving coloured population, congregating 
here and there as circumstances may invite them, on the 
coasts around the Caribbean sea. I shall have to speak 
more of this fact, which promises to become of importance 
in the future history of the West Indies, and of Central 
America, as well as in the development of the coloured 
races of the new world. Of this class of the coloured 
population of Chagres, the greater number were from 
Curacao and Cartagena. The natives of the place itself 
seemed to be more of a Hispano-Indian caste, extremely 
strong and well formed, some of them with very intelligent 
and pleasing countenances. I found that personal cleanli- 
ness and neatness were marked traits in their character, by 
which they were most favourably distinguished from the 
inhabitants, and the travelling crowd on the other side of 
the river. On every morning during the eight days of our 
stay, men and women, as they passed the river in their 
small canoes, appeared in a clean suit, although the whole 
dress of the former consisted only in a straw hat and a pair 



10 VILLAGE OF THE NATIVES — DKESS. Book I. 

of white trowsers worn over the skin. Here I had the 
first opportunity of seeing that peculiar style of half-savage 
elegance, which characterizes the female dress and deport- 
ment of the lower classes of Spanish America. Indeed, 
these women, with their flounced skirts of striped muslin 
fastened round their naked waists, their busts looselv 
covered with the flying guipil of white muslin glittering 
with gold or silver paillettes, or the long striped reboso 
stylishly thrown over the left shoulder, a pair of small 
white satin shoes, embroidered with silver or gold, on the 
naked feet, the jet hair tastefully adorned with white, 
yellow, or crimson flowers just taken from the shrub, — 
made altogether a coquettish appearance, as they would 
walk along in assumed dignity with a defying swing of 
their arms, or would negligently repose in their gently 
moving hammocks. I observed that a perfect politeness of 
language prevailed among these people, in whose conver- 
sation the address of "senor" and " senora" was rarely 
omitted. Only the men who were rowing the canoes on 
the river, or were occupied in unloading the vessels, mutu- 
ally addressed themselves in a less formal manner, calling 
their companions by the simple designation of " hombre" 
(man !) — " mulato I " — " cuadron J" — " zambo /" — accord- 
ing to the gradations of caste. 

Between the inhabitants of the two villages a little war 
had broken out during the time of my visit. The natives 
had offered to forward the travellers up the river at a lower 
rate than the Americans would allow ; and, as the former 
neglected the prohibition, one of their canoes, filled with 
travellers, was fired at from the American side. To these 
high-handed proceedings the natives responded by similar 
acts of violence ; some wounds were received on both sides, 
and there was a good deal of excitement for a few days. 



Chap. I. CASTLE OF SAN LOKENZO. 11 

Mounting the steep hill on which the castle of San 
Lorenzo is situated, I saw — as a physician would say — a 
splendid specimen of elephantiasis, in the shape of the 
monstrous leg of a negro, sitting at the side of the footpath. 
The castle, which once defended the northern entrance to 
the passage across the isthmus of Panama, is one of the 
most remarkable monuments of Spanish dominion in those 
parts of the world ; though, from the effects of the excessive 
dampness of the climate, and from want of repair, it is 
almost a ruin, its material being a variety of sandstone 
which is unfit for withstanding the attacks of atmospherical 
influences. In one of the courts stood a wooden building, 
the residence of a solitary officer styled the " comman- 
dante ; " but I saw no trace of a garrison, not even a single 
guard to prevent me and my companions from entering a 
vault which we found to contain I cannot tell how many 
thousand pounds of moist gunpowder in open boxes, which 
some of us investigated with a lighted cigar in the mouth 
before recognizing the dangerous nature of the substance. 
Old pieces of artillery, some of very heavy calibre, and 
pyramids of piled-up balls and shells lay about on the 
ground. Besides a large number of iron guns, I counted 
ten guns and mortars of bronze. Two of the latter, of 
beautiful workmanship, reciprocally bore the inscriptions : 
" ElEscorpion. Sevilla, 1749 ; " and " El Dr aeon. Sevilla, 
1742." 

The view from the castle is grand and beautiful. On 
one side is the sea, washing the foot of the hill on which it 
stands, and which is very precipitous in this direction. A 
line of coast, covered with forest down to the beach, ex- 
tends from hence in a long sweep. Towards the interior a 
country of wooded hills unfolds itself, and leaves a passage 
to the river, which may be traced with the eye for a con- 



12 RUINOUS SPECULATIONS. Book I. 

siderable distance, as it takes its course through the dark 
shades of the forest. 

Behind the castle is a deep ravine, through which a clear 
brook rushes down to the sea between majestic trees. A 
crowd of half-naked women were occupied here in washing 
their linen. As we approached, they made signs that we 
should not come near — a rare instance of a feeling which in 
general seems to be almost unknown amongst the lower 
classes of Spanish America. As we proceeded in our 
walk we came to a grove of cocoa-nut trees, and on a small 
square between them saw the remains of a sugar factory, 
with several large kettles in good condition lying about. 
The establishment seemed to have never been in a working 
state, and undoubtedly has been one of the many unfortu- 
nate speculations begun in those regions of tropical America 
without a due appreciation of the difficulties and obstacles 
inseparably connected with the uncivilized state of a country. 
I have seen a like result of a similar speculation in British 
Honduras, where, in the wilderness surrounding the Mana- 
tee Lagoon, I found all the improvements and costly ma- 
chinery of an intended sugar plantation overgrown by the 
rank vegetation of a forest. 

The next day I took a walk along the coast, and after 
having followed it for two or three miles to a beautiful spot 
where, near a projecting rock, a little river empties into the 
sea, I took a footpath leading into the forest. This, after 
the distance of a mile, brought me to a number of huts con- 
structed of canes and palm leaves. Brown women, in all 
the finery described above, even the white satin shoes not 
excepted, were swinging in their hammocks in the open 
doorways. What might have induced these people to erect 
their habitations in the midst of the forest I could not learn. 
Perhaps they wanted to be near enough to the port to 



Chap. I. SAN JUAN DEL NORTE. 13 

profit by the neighbourhood, without having their dwellings 
exposed to the looks of the passing " Americanos." 

Heavy showers of rain, which poured down in torrents 
every day, prevented me from moving more freely about in 
the environs, and made the time tedious and unproductive 
of observation. On the 14th of November, Captain B. 
having settled his business transactions, our anchor was 
raised, and our brig towed out into the sea. 

It took us four days to reach San Juan del Norte. Where 
first seen by us the coast near that place appeared as a long 
belt of forest, here and there interrupted by a savana, and 
extending in a flat country to the foot of a range of hills 
in the interior. Farther in that direction rose some isolated 
peaks, indicating, by their pure conical form, the volcanic 
nature of the region. These, as I learned soon after, were 
the two cones of the island of Ometepe, in the lake of 
Nicaragua, and some of the nearer peaks of Costarica. 

At that time San Juan was a little town of about fifty 
or sixty houses. The place is known by three different 
names. To designate it in a more general manner, it is 
called San Juan de Nicaragua — to distinguish it from 
another San Juan, which is situated on the Pacific coast of 
Nicaragua, it is called San Juan del Norte : " mar del 
norte " and " mar del sur " being old Spanish denomina- 
tions for the Atlantic and the Pacific ocean, — and to ex- 
tinguish the memory of the Spanish origin and the former 
allegiance to Spain as well as to Nicaragua, the English, 
when they took forcible possession of it in the name of 
their tutelary kingdom of Mosquitia, in 1848, substituted 
the name of Grey town for the two older appellations. 

In spite of the novelty of the latter name, San Juan del 
Norte is an old Spanish settlement. It is a well known 
fact that a Spanish garrison was kept here at the begin- 



14 SAN JUAN DEL NORTE. Book I. 

ning of the eighteenth century, and that, from 1796 down 
to the time of Central American independence, it was one 
of the official ports of entry for the Spanish dominions in 
this part of the world. The more recent history of the 
place, since it has acquired some importance in American 
politics, is not without interest, intimately connected as it 
is with the question of the Mosquito Protectorate, with the 
contended stipulations of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, with 
the disputed territorial rights of Nicaragua and Costarica, 
with the claims of the different transit companies, and the 
adventurous expeditions of the modern filibusters. At the 
time of my arrival, the town was governed by the British 
Consul for the King of Mosquitia. In the name of this 
sovereign the custom-house duties were collected ; in his 
name the building-lots of the town and divisions of land in 
the neighbourhood were sold ; and this state of things con- 
tinued until, on the 1st of May of 1851, the inhabitants, 
with the consent of England, have declared their com- 
munity to form a free city and independent republic under 
a constitution of their own, which they adopted in 1852, 
and which has ever since remained in force. In 1854, 
after having considerably increased, the place, by an act of 
the government of the United States, which has been 
almost universally condemned, was totally destroyed, so 
that a few houses only remained, — a proceeding which, 
though produced by no other ostensible cause than a 
quarrel raised between the town and the Accessory Tran- 
sit Company, is not without some political signification, in 
so far as the question of the British Protectorate was 
thereby put to a decisive test. A consideration of this 
kind is the only motive which can explain a severity un- 
justified by the trifling nature of the pretext. 

The town of San Juan del Norte, which, since the 



Ciiap. I. SAN JUAN DEL NORTE. 15 

catastrophe just mentiomed, has risen again from its ashes, 
is situated at the mouth of the northern branch of the river 
by which the basin of the lake of Nicaragua is connected 
with the ocean. The situation is incomparably better than 
that of Chagres. The soil upon which it stands is sandy, 
small black grains of Titanic iron, or Iserine, entering 
largely into its composition. Wherever the ground is 
touched with a magnet a more or less considerable quan- 
tity of that substance will be attracted, and may be taken 
up. Undoubtedly, it has been carried down from the in- 
terior by the river, as it is originally derived from the 
volcanic eruptions of Ometepe, of the Monibacho and of the 
volcano of Massaya, some of the lavas and tuffs of these 
localities containing a very large proportion of the mineral, 
while on the shores of the lake of Nicaragua it exists, in 
an almost pure or unmixed state, in banks of the same 
loose black grains, which may be taken up by the magnet, 
at San Juan del Norte. 

To this sandy condition of the soil undoubtedly is 
attributable an essential part of the comparative salubrity 
of the climate of the latter place. I have never seen a 
soil absorb the water more quickly and dry up in a 
shorter time than that of San Juan, where, in a quarter of 
an hour after the heaviest rain, the streets may be passed 
without soiling your shoes. Such a. soil, with the sea on 
one side, the river on the other, a little lagoon on the 
third and almost on a level with all, must be impregnated 
with water, however dry it may be on the surface. Where- 
ever, therefore, an empty barrel is sunk into the ground it 
speedily fills, and this I observed to be the way of procuring 
the drinking-water in common use. This I found to be 
pure and of good taste, and according to the statements of 
the inhabitants, perfectly healthy. The lagoon just men- 



16 SAN JUAN DEL NORTE — POPULATION. Book I. 

tioned is in the rear of the town, a few hundred paces from 
the last houses as they stood at that time. Its water is 
sweet, as it is connected with the river and shut up towards 
the sea. It does not appear to have a marked influence 
in making the situation unhealthy, which may be accounted 
for by the prevailing sea-breeze driving the exhalations 
towards the interior. 

The water of this lagoon is of a dark brown colour, 
which contributes to the peculiar character of the scenery. 
It is surrounded by a thick growth of trees of the most 
luxuriant vegetation. Heavy masses of foliage, leaving an 
opening here and there through which the eye is led into 
the darkest shades of the forest, are resting on the very 
surface of the lake. These openings are narrow channels, 
by which the lagoon extends into the woods to a consider- 
able distance, covered, for the most part, with so dense a 
foliage that no ray of the sun can penetrate. The lagoon 
is full of alligators, or rather crocodiles, some of them of 
an extraordinary size for an American species ; the peculiar 
degree of savageness imputed to the alligators of San Juan 
may be explained by their not being true alligators, but, 
in fact, a species of crocodile — Crocodilus Americana, of 
which a fine specimen, from this very place, is in the 
British Museum. 

The population of- San Juan was by far superior in cha- 
racter to that of Chagres, and ever since has this town 
represented a very respectable community. The most 
perfect order and security prevailed at the time of my visit, 
though hundreds of Californians, who had come through 
the interior of Nicaragua from Realejo, filled the taverns. 
The English protectors of the King of Mosquito kept up 
an excellent police here. A considerable proportion of the 
inhabitants were coloured people from the interior as well 



Chap. I. SAN JUAN DEL NORTE — POPULATION. 17 

as from the West Indies, but the better class was almost 
entirely composed of foreigners — Americans, English, 
Frenchmen, Spaniards, Germans, and Italians ; and such 
the population has remained up to the present time, repre- 
senting a type of what the population of Central America 
in general will no doubt in due course become — a mixture 
of all the elements able to contribute to the development 
of civilization and prosperity in this beautiful and interest- 
ing region. 



18 THE PANAMA FEVER. ; Book I. 



CHAPTER II. 

Journey into the Interior — Scenery on the River — Old Castle of San Juan 
— San Carlos — Aspect of the Lake of Nicaragua — Adventures of a young 
German amongst the Indians of the Rio Frio — Science held in high 
Esteem in Spanish America — Canoe Navigation on the Lake — Arrival at 
Granada. 

The few days of my stay at Chagres had been sufficient to 
produce a severe attack of that peculiar form of remittent 
fever which is known and dreaded under the name of the 
Chagres or Panama fever. I think I knew the very moment 
when the fetid miasmata, rising from the neighbouring swamp 
and mixing with the air at the fall of night, took effect 
upon my constitution. A sickening sensation instantane- 
ously pervaded my system; sea-sickness prevented me 
during the next four days from having a very distinct feel- 
ing of the state of my health ; but, when I arrived at San 
Juan, I found that all my energy was gone. For a few 
days I still kept up, but at last I was subdued by a vio- 
lent paroxysm. My landlord, an old Frenchman, a poli- 
tical refugee from the time of Charles X., who had passed 
many years on the island of Hayti, and there had acquired 
practice in the treatment of this kind of disease, prepared 
a large bottle of medicine for me, which, trusting more to 
the experience of this man than to the doubtful science of 
some questionable member of the profession who may have 
existed at San Juan at that time, I swallowed without 
hesitation, and, after having taken a strong dose of quinine 
on the next morning, I followed his advice to continue my 
journey into the interior, whatever the state of my health 



Chap. II. JOURNEY INTO THE INTERIOR. 19' 

might be, the chances of my recovery being by far better 
there than on the sea-coast. In this he was right, for, during 
the twelve days of my passage to Granada, while I slept 
every night in the open air on board a canoe, several times 
even exposed without any shelter to the heavy dew, or 
lying under an india-rubber blanket in a torrent of rain, I 
recovered, though the consequences of the attack, mani- 
festing themselves in a general want of muscular power 
and in a high degree of nervous irritability, did not leave 
me for many months. 

At that time steamboats were not yet plying on the San 
Juan river and the Lake of Nicaragua, and I had to con- 
tent myself with the accommodations of one of the large 
canoes of the natives called "bongos" which were then the 
principal means of transport between, the coast and the 
interior, for passengers as well as for merchandise. In 
company with two Americans, who, like myself, were 
anxious to proceed to Granada, I hired one of the largest 
of these clumsy little crafts, manned with ten boatmen or 
" mariner vs" together with their captain or "patron" all 
of them coloured people from the interior. We laid in 
provisions for a fortnight, such being the full time of a 
passage which is now performed by steamers in two days. 

We left San Juan on the 23rd of November, and arrived 
at Granada on the 5th of the following month. In refer- 
ence to the beauties of nature, the trip is one of the most 
interesting that can be made, though the state of my 
health prevented me from enjoying it then, as I did after- 
wards on two different occasions. At the present time the 
forest is cleared at several places on the river, where the 
wood has been cut to provide the river steamers with fuel, 
and a few plantations have been established. In 1850 an 
open shed, furnished with a hammock and surrounded by 

c 2 



20 SCENEKY ON THE EIVEK. Book I. 

a plantain garden of half an acre, was the only improve- 
ment of the kind in an extent of more than a hundred miles. 
With this single exception, and with that of the site of the 
old castle of San Juan, more generally known by the popu- 
lar name of the Castillo Viejo, the banks were covered 
with trees to the water's edge, their branches often bearing 
a vegetation of vines, climbers, and parasites, so densely 
interwoven that the whole appeared like a solid wall of 
leaves and flowers. 

•I shall never forget the impressions of one night and 
morning on this river. Our boat had anchored in the 
midst of the stream. Strange forms of trees, spectre-like 
in the dark, stood before us, and seemed to move as the 
eye strove in vain to make out their real shape. From 
time to time a splash in the water, caused by the movement 
of an alligator, the bellowing of a manati, the screeching of a 
night-bird, or the roar of some beast of the forest, broke the 
silence, and mingled at last with my feverish dream. In 
the morning, a song our boatmen addressed to the Virgin 
roused me from my sleep. It was a strain of plaintive 
notes in a few simple but most expressive modulations. 
Several years later I heard them again, sung by the Mex- 
can miners in the subterraneous chapel of the quicksilver 
mine of New Almaden in California, and I never shall 
forget the deep emotion felt on both occasions, so widely 
different in every other respect. In the latter case the 
scene passed in a narrow excavation before a little altar 
cut out of the natural rock, on which, before a gilded 
image of the Virgin, two thin tallow candles were casting 
their scanty light over the dark forms of fifteen or twenty 
men calling down the blessing of Heaven upon their day's 
work in the interior of the mountain — in the former, it 
was in the brightness and splendour of a morning of which 



Chap. II. SCEXEEY ON THE EIYEE. 21 

no description can convey a full idea to one who has had 
no experience in the most favoured regions of a tropical 
climate. The sun was just rising, and as the first rays, 
gilding the glossy leaves of the forest, fell upon the bronze- 
coloured bodies of our men, letting the naked forms of 
their athletic frame appear in all the contrast of light and 
shade, while accents, plaintive and imploring, strained forth 
from their lips, I thought to hear the sacred spell by 
which, unconscious of its power, these men were subduing 
their own half-savage nature. At once the same song was 
repeated from behind a projecting corner of the bank, 
and other voices joined those of our crew in the sacred 
notes. Two canoes, covered from our view, had anchored 
near us during the night. The song at last died away in the 
wilderness. A silent prayer — our anchor was raised, and, 
with a wild shout of the crew, twelve oars simultaneously 
struck the water. The sun was glittering in the river. 
The tops of the trees were steeped in light — monkeys were 
swinging in the branches — splendid macaws flew in pairs 
from bank to bank — all around exhibited the glory and 
brightness of superabundant nature. 

Near the mouth of the river, as far up as the higher 
end of its delta, the banks are almost on the water's level, 
overgrown with reeds, mangroves, and a low species of 
palm-tree, the latter forming extensive thickets in the 
swamps. After a distance of fourteen or fifteen miles, the 
land gradually becomes a little higher, and steep embank- 
ments of a brown or reddish clay rise to some ten or 
twenty feet above the water. The low palm thickets 
of the swampy region disappear, and a vegetation of 
splendid trees, mostly exogenous, overhung with blooming 
vines, takes their place. Flowery garlands, swung from 
branch to branch, hang over the stream, while now and 



22 CASTILLO VIEJO. Book I. 

then the slender shafts of one of the tallest species of the 
palm tribe wafts its little crown of feathery leaves high 
over the gorgeous masses of the heavier foliage. 

Eight or ten miles higher up, the region of the " rau- 
dales" or rapids, begins. Here the river, locked in between 
wooded hills, presents a new character of scenery. The 
trees, covering the hill-sides with an almost impenetrable 
forest, exhibit an extraordinary variety of forms in striking 
contrast. The most interesting situation in this region is 
that of the Castillo Viejo. Here, where the river foams 
over a bed of rocks, stands the old Spanish castle of San 
Juan. Since 1780 it has remained a ruin, though Nicara- 
gua has always kept a few soldiers here, occupying a shed 
at the foot of the hill on which the remains of the fort are 
seen. In the civil wars of the last years this place has 
repeatedly been occupied and evacuated by the contending 
powers. In 1854 the Leonese party held it with a small force, 
when the Granadinos under Chamorro took it, and spared 
the lives of none of their adversaries who fell into their hands. 

Amongst the rapids, that of the Castillo Viejo is the 
only one which forms a real impediment in the navigation 
of the river. With the necessary caution canoes may 
descend, and I myself have passed over it on my way 
back to the coast in a bongo carrying forty passengers ; — 
upwards, however, all classes of boats must be towed, after 
having been unloaded, and the continuity of steam naviga- 
tion is interrupted here. The steamboats from the mouth 
of the river proceed as high up as the foot of this rapid, 
while those from the Lake come as far down as the end of 
the still water above it. Not long before the time of my 
arrival the two first steamboats destined to ply on the 
river and Lake had been sent from New York by the 
Canal Company ; one of them, however, lay at the Cas- 



Chap. II. ASPECT OF THE LAKE OF NICAKAGUA. 23' 

tillo waiting for the means of being towed over this rapid ; 
the other had grounded in the rapid of Machuca, and never 
got afloat again. When I passed down the river some 
years later the wreck had given origin to a little island, 
and, though the structure still kept together, trees were 
growing on the deck. 

After the opening of the steam navigation on the river, 
several houses have been erected at the Castillo, and the 
place promised to become a little town. In 1855 several 
hotels stood here, in which two or three thousand dollars 
were spent every fortnight by passing travellers, detained 
for a few hours by the change of steamer. The total inter- 
ruption of the transit, in consequence of the high-handed 
proceedings of William Walker, the filibuster, soon after 
checked the progress of this dawning settlement. 

Above the region of the rapids the river is almost stag- 
nant, and the designation of the " aguas muertas" or dead 
waters, is not inappropriately applied to it. It is a deep 
and still water, full of fish, with low and swampy banks, 
on which the palm thickets of the delta reappear. 

Beyond this latter portion of the river the lake of Nica- 
ragua opens to the view. On the little promontory 
formed by the lake and the inlet of the river, the custom- 
house of Nicaragua, designated by the high-sounding name 
of the fort of San Carlos, has been established. There 
are a few houses at this place, and a small military force 
is kept up to protect the establishment and, in case of 
necessity, enforce the payment of the duties. The ruins 
of an old Spanish castle still exist here, but they are 
hidden among the trees and shrubs with which they are 
overgrown. 

The view from this elevation has a peculiar character of 
grandeur. At the foot of the hill a broad sheet of water 



24 THE INDIOS BLANCOS, OE GUATUSOS. Book I. 

is spread, studded, in the immediate neighbourhood, with 
some green islands of diminutive dimensions, and extend- 
ing, in a north-westerly direction, as far as the eye can 
reach. To the left, a low wooded shore begins at the 
outlet of the lake, and continues in that direction till it is 
lost in the distance of the western horizon. A chain of 
high mountains, cast in a shroud of dark forests, rises in its 
rear, covering an unknown region of Costarica. It com- 
prises several active volcanoes, which on late occasions, as 
in 1854, have illumined the surface of the lake by their 
flames and red-hot streams of lava. To the right, the 
view does not extend beyond the nearest hills ; but, at a 
short distance on the lake, it ranges over a long line of 
broken eminences, with the mountain chain of Chontales in 
their rear, bordering like a wall the table-land of Upper 
Mosquitia. Hill and dale, forests and savanas, appear in 
endless variety in this direction. On the distant horizon 
in the centre of the view the two cones of the island of 
Ometepe are seen, faintly traced, and as their forms are 
lifted up by refraction, they seem to swim over the 
water. 

At the very spot where the San Juan river leaves the 
lake, the Rio Frio enters it. This is a river coming down 
from the mountains of Costarica, through an absolute 
wilderness which, it is asserted, has never been trodden 
by the foot of a civilized man. The dense forests of this 
region are inhabited by a warlike tribe of Indians who 
refuse to have any intercourse with the rest of the world. 
They are said to be of very fair complexion, a statement 
which has caused the appellation of Indios blancos, or 
Guatusos — the latter name being that of an animal of 
reddish-brown colour, and intended to designate the colour 
of their hair. It is stated that not only do they not allow 



Chap. II. THE GUATUSOS. 25 

a foreigner to enter their territory, but that they are even 
in the habit of killing those of their own people who again 
fall in their hands after having been away amongst the civi- 
lized inhabitants of the neighbouring settlements. Never- 
theless, some of them — if really belonging to that tribe — 
are occasionally seen at Tortugas, a small Nicaraguan place 
on the western shore of the lake, and eight or ten miles to 
the south-east of Virgin Bay. A Nicaraguan gentleman 
who had lived at Tortugas and had collected information 
there concerning these Indians, asserted that amongst them 
men very often take their own daughters for wives. While 
in California, I heard of a young German, living in the 
neighbourhood of San Francisco, who recounts a little 
romance of adventures he met with amongst this people. 
Though the story was not told to me by the man himself, 
still, as it was repeated by a trustworthy friend who had 
derived it from the original source, I may be allowed to 
introduce it here. The young man was on his way to 
California. When at San Carlos, he had some difference 
or quarrel with his travelling companions, and being afraid 
of a pistol-ball or a bowie-knife, took the desperate resolu- 
tion of swimming to the opposite side of the river, where 
he soon fell into the hands of a body of these Indians. He 
was tied to a tree, and they then held a council as to the 
manner — so at least he believed — of putting him to death. 
Suddenly, however, as it has happened before in similar 
cases, a young girl, the daughter of the chief, hurried forth, 
clasped her arms round the neck of my blue-eyed country- 
man, and gave a favourable turn to his fate. Of course, 
he married the girl, and, as the consort of this Indian 
princess, he spent a few months in the forest, till he was 
ungrateful enough to forsake his generous bride, and avail 
himself of an opportunity to swim back to San Carlos, 



26 THE GUATUSOS. Book. I. 

continuing, after this romantic episode, his journey to 
California. According to his statements, he would have 
remained with the Indians had he been able to endure the 
life in the wilderness, which he found rather too ill- 
provided with accommodations for enjoying his honey- 
moon. During the rainy season the tribe lived almost 
exclusively on the trees, and he speaks in very high terms 
of the dexterity with which they would leap from branch 
to branch, a mode of travelling in which he often found it 
too difficult to follow his nimble spouse. At the time of 
each full moon the whole tribe met in council, for which 
the place was designated from one meeting to the next by 
the chief, and whatever was done by common agreement 
was regulated according to the phases of the moon. 

Some years before the period of my first arrival in 
Nicaragua, the officer then in command of the fort of 
San Carlos fitted out an expedition for the purpose of 
exploring the country on the Rio Frio, which is known to 
be rich in gold. This little corps, having hit upon a 
deserted village of the Indians on the bank of the river, 
and resting in the shade of some trees on the outskirts of 
the forest, was suddenly assailed by a shower of arrows, 
and with the exception of the commanding officer, who was 
severely wounded, but succeeded in hiding himself between 
the reeds till a boat from the fort came to his rescue, 
every man of the expeditionary force was killed. 1 

At San Carlos my luggage had to pass the custom- 
house visitation. When the first of my boxes was opened, 
and a botanical work, lying uppermost, and being recog- 
nisable as such by its plates, came to view, all further 



1 Mr. Squier, in his recent work on I given some very valuable information 
the ' Central American States,' has in reference to the Guatusos. 



Chap. II. CANOE NAVIGATION ON THE LAKE. 27 

investigation was dispensed with. " Este cavaliero es 
botanista" — this gentleman is a botanist — cried the direc- 
tor, giving an order to leave my things unmolested. As 
far as I know the Spanish-American nations, scientific 
occupations are held in very high esteem amongst them— 
a trait of character worthy of a better fate than to be 
effaced by the brutalizing influences of continued revolu- 
tions and civil wars. It may be fairly said that this 
feature, originally belonging to the Spanish nationality, 
has been greatly developed and generalised, as to the 
colonial populations, by the travels and highly scientific 
researches of Baron Humboldt. 

Our passage up the river had taken us nine days, making 
an average progress of about twelve miles per day. Three 
days more were spent in crossing the lake. With the 
native boatmen it seems to be a rule to abstain from using 
oars, even when they are becalmed. Before we left the 
"aguas muertas" a small tree had been cut. This was 
now erected as a mast, a sail was spread, and slowly we 
began to move in the direction to Granada. Our naviga- 
tion was of a very primitive kind. At night, while every 
soul on board slept soundly, our bongo was left to find its 
own way, which, however, it refused to do, for when I 
awoke at dawn, I saw that we were heading to the place 
we had come from. By-and-bye, nevertheless, we drew 
nearer to our point of destination. When we had left the 
two peaks of Ometepe on one side, the summit of the 
Mombacho, designating the site of Granada, gradually rose 
from the water. We passed the island of Zapotera, cele- 
brated for its idols, which have been discovered and de- 
scribed by my friend, Mr. Squier. It is uninhabited, and 
may be said to be a mountain covered with a forest, here 
and there interrupted by a patch of savana. Like other 



28 ARRIVAL AT GRANADA. Book I. 

islands in this lake, it contains numerous wild animals, such 
as deer, pecaris, monkeys, and panthers. The name is 
generally written Zapatero, a word which, translated into 
English, means " the shoemaker." But I never heard it 
pronounced otherwise than Zapotera, and I have no doubt 
that its correct form is Zapotera, meaning the Zapote 
Island. According to this derivation, the name is formed 
analogous to that of the island of Formentera, in the group 
of the Baleares. Zapote is the name of a well-known fruit 
of the tropics, very common in Nicaragua. In its original 
Aztec this latter name is Zapotl. In a similar manner a 
cluster of small coral islands in the gulf of Honduras is 
called the Zapodilla Keys, from the Zapodilla trees grow- 
ing on them. According to Mr. Squier, the old Aztec 
name of the island of Zapotera was Chornitl-Tenamitl, a 
compound, the second part of which occurs again in the 
name of another island in this lake — that of Solentenami. 
According to Mr. Buschmann, tenamitl, in the Aztec lan- 
guage, means a stone wall. 

On the evening of the 5th of December we doubled the 
outermost rock of the Corrales or Isletas, — a cluster of 
more than a hundred diminutive islands at the foot of the 
Mombacho, and a few hours after dark landed on the 
" playa " or beach of Granada. 



Chap. III. GRANADA. 29 



CHAPTEK III. 

Granada and its Environs — Geological Character of the Soil — Volcanic Fis- 
sures — Habitations of the Lower Classes — Indian Population — Excursions 
in the Neighbourhood — The Playa — Los Corrales — La Joya — Lake 
Songozana of Oviedo — Laguna de Salinas — Home Life of the Author — 
Tame Animals kept in the House — Slaveholding Ants — Nicaraguan 
Scholars, and Eeputation of German Philosophers. 

As, during the whole time of my residence in Nicaragua, 
Granada has been my standing quarters to„ which I have 
returned from all my excursions, I will unite in this chapter 
what I have to say of it. My remarks in reference to the 
town itself must be very restricted. Since that time 
Granada has been reduced to ruins by William Walker, 
and my statements, if they were to go too deeply into the 
particulars of a description, would most likely be antiquated. 
Only those features, therefore, which have a more lasting 
character shall be dwelt upon. 

At the time of my visit Granada was a town of thirteen 
or fourteen thousand inhabitants, built in the usual style of 
Spanish-American cities under the tropics. It stands half 
a mile distant from the lake, on the northern foot of an 
extinguished volcano called Mombacho, on a soil of volcanic 
tuff of a very friable and sandy nature. During the dry 
season, when an almost continual fresh breeze — which, in 
fact, is the north-easterly trade-wind — is blowing over the 
country, and sweeping the streets of the city, the fine sand 
fills the air and enters through the doors and windows of 
the houses, covering every piece of furniture and every 
article exposed to it so rapidly and copiously that to dust 
your table every quarter of an hour will prove insufficient, 



30 GEAKADA — CHAEACTER OF THE SOIL. Book I. 

and you cannot finish one page of a letter without feeling 
the accumulating grains under your fingers. Glass windows 
being unknown in Nicaragua, no protection is possible 
against this annoying effect of a climate which in other 
respects is a most delightful one. I may state in connexion 
with this subject, that mosquitos are scarcely seen at Gra- 
nada, and that in general I do not remember having been 
troubled by them anywhere in the interior of Nicaragua. 
The sand I am speaking of contains such a number of 
grains of titanic iron, already mentioned in reference to the 
soil of San Juan del Norte, that you may collect this 
substance anywhere in your room — from its floor, from the 
material of its walls, from the surface of the furniture — by 
a magnet. During the rainy season, when heavy showers 
are of frequent occurrence, torrents are often rushing 
through the streets, but as they have a sufficient slope to 
let the water flow off without delay, while the sand washed 
out of the loamy soil remains covering the surface, the 
streets of Granada may be called very clean even after a 
rain. 

These showers are sometimes exceedingly violent. I 
have known an instance when, at the beginning of a rain- 
fall at Granada,, a little parrot, whose wings had been 
clipped to prevent it from flying away, was drowned in our 
court before it had had time to take refuge under a shelter 
not distant beyond twelve or fifteen paces, and after the 
rain had continued for an hour, the court was laid com- 
pletely under water to a considerable depth, though it had 
a drain of not less than one foot in diameter. 

The soil in the neighbourhood of Granada is intersected 
by deep ravines, which have been enlarged and otherwise 
modified in their character by the recurring effect of such 
violent and copious rains ; but which, without any doubt, 



Chap. III. GKANADA — VOLCANIC FISSUEES. 31 

are fissures caused originally by earthquake. They are 
rather an interesting feature in the site of the city, which, 
on each of its two sides, is lined by one of these formations 
beginning in its rear and running down to the lake. By 
one of them the city is entirely separated from one of its 
suburbs, which from that very circumstance is not inappro- 
priately called Otrahanda, — "the other side." There are 
only a few places where this deep ravine can be crossed, 
and some of these crossings can only be effected by passing 
through side branches of the main fissure so narrow that 
there is scarcely room for one man, the walls being quite 
perpendicular. The bottom of the principal trunk of this 
long cleft has been filled up by the material washed, or 
crumbling down from the perpendicular walls of tuff, and 
now forms a horizontal floor through the whole length of the 
cleft, which extends for several miles, with a width nowhere 
exceeding a few paces, and an average height of the walls 
— if I judge right from memory — of twenty to thirty feet. 
The whole, for a certain distance upwards, forms a cool 
alley under the shade of shrubs and trees that grow above 
the banks, uniting their branches over it. The walls, 
always perpendicular, are distinguished by a variety of 
delicate ferns and lycopodiaceous plants, and by the rich 
violet flowers of a Gesnera growing on them. They are 
full of holes and cavities. Some of the latter, even large 
enough for men to enter, seem to be the abode of different 
kinds of animals, while the former are occupied by numerous 
owls, and by the nests of some birds of brilliant plumage 
of the family of the kingfishers, as well as of a peculiar 
bird called Guarda-barranca, of a light greenish blue_, with 
two long feathers in its tail. 1 Near its upper extremity 



1 This bird seems to bo the Hylomaues superciliaris, of the family of the 
Todidae. 



32 HUTS OF THE LOWEE CLASSES. Book I. 

this curious fissure becomes so narrow that, at some places, 
a man finds it difficult to pass, and the whole formation, 
without having become less deep, abruptly terminates by a 
kind of perpendicular shaft, just wide enough for a man to 
stand at the bottom of it, and look up through a narrow 
opening, over which he perceives nothing but a little patch 
of sky. 

The huts of the outskirts and environs of Granada are 
scattered between thickets of shrubs and fruit trees, or 
hidden in the woods, which in most directions close imme- 
diately upon the city. A few hundred steps from the last 
houses of Jalteva, which, though it is called a suburb, and 
is always in a decided political opposition with Granada, 
yet in fact forms an essential part of the city, I have seen 
a deer crossing my way, which I did not shoot, because I 
could not imagine that it was not a tame one belonging to 
the next habitation ; and when, on another occasion, on my 
return from an excursion which I had been making in 
company with some friends, we all were under the impres- 
sion of having lost our way, we found ourselves imme- 
diately in front of the first houses of Granada. 

The huts of the lower classes, scattered, as I have said, 
over the outskirts and environs of the city, are often distin- 
guished by their charming sites, in which the peculiar taste 
of their Indian or half- Indian inmates is recognisable. For 
weeks the stranger may stroll about in the neighbourhood, 
and daily he will discover new gems of beauty in the situa- 
tion of some humble dwellings, built of reeds and thatched 
with palm leaves ; — here, in idyllic retirement hidden from 
the world, the footpath leading to the place scarcely visible — 
there boldly on a hill, under a group of trees, or standing 
on an open patch of savana, with a look over the lake and 
its islands and distant shores. As he passes close by, tawny 



Chap. III. THE CENTRAL AMERICAN INDIAN. 33 

children in the costume of nature, are playing in intimate 
fellowship with pigs, dogs, and chickens, under the shade 
of some orange or mango trees, between shrubs covered 
with flowers ; while brown women, busy in their domestic 
occupations, are seen through the open door. 

In the population of the suburbs and of the scattered 
habitations of the environs of Granada, the Indian element 
is predominant — in part even exclusive. Amongst the 
lower classes of the town, a considerable proportion of 
African blood is mixed with it. But to what an extent the 
Indian element, even as a pure unmixed race, predomi- 
nates, may be seen every morning on the market-place 
of Granada. Without the Indians, it would be empty. 
Early in the morning they are seen arriving in long files, 
one after the other, men, women and children, bringing 
fruits and vegetables, chickens and eggs, venison and fish, 
wild honey, starch prepared from the yucca or mandioca 
root, maize and rice, hammocs, water-jars, drinking-cups 
made from the jicara or fruit of the calabash tree, and with 
other productions of their small plantations and of their 
industry. It is altogether an erroneous opinion, which, 
however, seems to be very general, that this people is 
naturally lazy. Whatever may be said of the descendants 
of the Spaniards in this, or in any other American country, 
and however unwilling the free negro may be to work, the 
Central-American Indian is naturally industrious, and is, 
without any doubt, the most useful and the most respect- 
able component in the Central- American population. He 
is of a short frame, stout and robust, well-built, with an 
intelligent and agreeable countenance. His mouth is well- 
formed, with a beautiful set of teeth. His eyes are jet 
black, with a peculiar want of transparency or superficial 
lustre, but often with a strange interrogatory expression, 

D 



34 PLAYA OF GRANADA. Book I. 

which, in young persons, looks like a mischievous coyness, 
while in old individuals it is more or less expressive of 
diffidence and caution. 

In speaking of the great features presented by the situ- 
ation and the popular life of Granada, I have to mention 
the beach of the Lake, next to the town. Never have I 
seen a brighter scene than the ci playa " of Granada. The 
way down from tbe city passes through thickets of shrub- 
bery covered with the most splendid flowers, amongst 
which the Poinciana, with scarlet panicles, is most promi- 
nent. With the exception of the noon-time, there is 
always considerable life on this road. Clumsy carts drawn 
by oxen move awkwardly along, hauling goods up and 
down from and to the landing-place. Groups of mis- 
chievous girls, boldly balancing their red water-jars on 
their heads, laugh and chatter as they walk between gay 
flowers and swarms of splendid butterflies. Swarthy 
women, always in good humour, with baskets filled with 
linen on their heads, move down in files in the morning 
and return in the evening. For more than half a mile the 
beach is occupied by them, as, more than half undressed 
and kneeling in the water up to their hips, they beal£their 
linen on a stone, rub it and wash it, or, moving a&out, 
spread it on the clean sand of the beach, where it dries 
almost instantaneously from the heat of the bottom and 
the powerful rays of a perpendicular sun. Every morning 
and evening hundreds of persons of both sexes and of every 
age are bathing here promiscuously. That this is no 
place for modesty, as the civilised nations of a colder zone 
understand it, is a matter of course ; but I may add that 
the ladies of the higher classes observe a stricter decorum. 
They go early in the morning when the playa is less fre- 
quented, and select their place at some distance from abso- 



Chap. III. PLAYA OF GKANADA. 35 

lute publicity. I have observed, as a general rule at this 
public place, that young and beautiful women were more 
modest than others who were not in possession of sufficient 
charms to attract the eyes of men, and in some cases of 
shocking ugliness no reason for modesty at all seemed to 
exist in the opinion of those most immediately concerned 
in the question. This observation, which contradicts a 
remark made by Goethe, is not without its moral interest. 
It is merely justice to add that, however slightly the com- 
mon people of Nicaragua may think of chastity and 
external modesty, I have never witnessed any coarseness 
or vulgarity of behaviour in the promiscuous crowd of this 
public bathing-place of both sexes. 

During the season of the trade-winds a heavy surf is 
generally breaking over the beach, and I have often heard 
its roaring in my bedroom in the centre of the city. By 
the action of the waves on the sand a separation of its con- 
stituent parts, according to their specific gravity, is effected, 
and by this process whole banks of black sand, composed of 
grains of titanic iron, or iserine, have been formed at some 
places, mixed only with a few grains of olivine, spinell, 
ryakolite, and other minerals of volcanic origin. These sub- 
stances are derived from the different masses ejected from 
the crater of the Mombacho, either in the form of lava or in 
that of ashes, which have made, or contributed to make, 
the volcanic tuff of this region. Everywhere in the neigh- 
bourhood blocks of lava are found imbedded in this tuff. 
The lava is sometimes of a basaltic character, including 
particles of titanic iron, of spinell, and of trichromatic 
olivine (red, blue, green, according to the three axes) — 
sometimes it is of a trachytic nature, including various mi- 
nerals of the felspar family, such as ryakolite and others. 
The basaltic lava not seldom takes the form of a very 

d 2 



36 THE COKKALES. Book I. 

heavy black scoriaceous rock, the high specific gravity of 
which, no doubt, is caused by the large proportion of the 
titanic iron it contains. The trachytic lava, on the other 
hand, occasionally appears in the condition of pumice, 
which it is quite common to see swimming in the Lake. 

A ride on horseback along the shore, either north or 
south of the landing-place, is full of interest and enjoy- 
ment. Trees and bushes follow the line of the sand beach 
some twenty paces distant from the water's edge, so that 
the greater part of the ride can be made in the shade, 
while the eye passes over the Lake, resting there on the 
long chain of mountains separating Nicaragua from Upper 
Mosquitia ; here, on the twin cones of Ometepe, on the 
wooded hill of Zapotera, or on the eastern slope of the 
Mombacho and the group of the Corrales, situated at its 
base. 

This cluster of several hundreds of little islands, sepa- 
rated from the mainland as well as from each other by a 
most intricate system of narrow channels, is apparently 
the production of a stream of lava ejected from the crater 
of the Mombacho, and which, flowing down its eastern side 
and reaching the Lake, has been violently burst and 
cracked into so many islands by sudden cooling in the 
water, by which it was only half covered. The rock of 
which they are composed is a basaltic lava, of a somewhat 
scoriaceous character, at least in some sections of the whole 
mass. These little rocky islands are overgrown with the 
most magnificent trees ; the branches often meeting over 
the narrow channels between them, forming dark vaults 
through which the canoes of the Indian inhabitants of this 
diminutive archipelago find their way in a labyrinth of 
passages. Many of the islands are inhabited, each of 
them, in general, only by one family. But they are so 



Chap. III. THE COKEALES. 37 

near to each other that the respective occupiers, without 
any difficulty, can have a conversation with their neigh- 
bours across the separating channel. Monkeys pass from 
one island to the other by leaping from branch to branch. 
The inhabitants have a few banana plantations and some 
fruit-trees ; they keep pigs and chickens ; besides which 
they are fishermen, who provide the market of Granada. 
Mr. Squier has visited one of the outer islands of the 
group, and has given a description of its idols. But the 
interior has never been examined by any one capable of 
observing and describing what objects of interest it may 
hide, and I am greatly mistaken if it does not offer a rich 
harvest, alike to the naturalist and the antiquary. From 
Granada, the nearest portion of the group is not distant 
more than two or three miles. Here the foot of the Mom- 
bacho advances to the shore of the lake, and the Corrales 
form its immediate continuation. The path along the 
beach is interrupted at this place, the communication with 
the southern side of the mountain being connected with con- 
siderable difficulties in that direction. The narrow channel 
by which the little archipelago is separated from the main- 
land at this spot is a still water, overgrown with floating 
leaves, on which the copper-coloured jacana, with armed 
wings and yellow front-plate, is seen to alight. Splendid 
kingfishers shoot over the surface, and disappear in some 
dark vault formed by the thick masses of foliage on the 
opposite shore. There the white heron stands in silent 
contemplation, as if looking at its own reflected image, 
while from the reeds a cancroma, a large brown bittern, or 
some other huge water-bird, suddenly flies up with start- 
ling noise. 

The whole region to the south of the city is occupied by 
the Mombacho, the sides and summit of which are covered 



38 LA JOYA. Book T. 

with almost impenetrable forests. Connected with it is a 
little group of hills, partly covered with savanas, standing 
in the rear of the city, at a few miles' distance in a south- 
westerly direction. I have been on the summit of one of 
them, and was recompensed for my trouble by a beautiful 
view over the plain and lake. But there is another in- 
terest connected with these hills which causes me to men- 
tion them. It is generally believed, as I have often heard 
at Granada, that they are slowly and continually growing 
higher. Such a fact is by no means impossible in a region 
of powerful volcanic activity such as this ; but I could not 
learn by what means it had been ascertained by the inha- 
bitants. 

On the way to the hills just mentioned, and about a 
mile from the city, a deep circular chasm is seen, sunk 
into the general level of the surrounding country, which, 
at that place, may have reached an elevation of one or 
two hundred feet above the level of the lake. There is 
little doubt that it once must have been a volcanic crater. 
An entrance into this chasm exists on one side, where the 
wall is split and the general level of the land has a depres- 
sion. At the bottom of it is a "platanar" or plantain 
garden, which seemed to be in a most luxuriant condition. 
Trees are growing at the foot of the perpendicular wall of 
rocks by which this locality is surrounded, their tops reach- 
ing up beyond the edge of the circular precipice, so as to 
make it difficult to get a glimpse at the enchanted garden 
below. The place is called La Joya — " the gem." 

A few miles north of Granada a swampy lagoon begins, 
following the shore of the lake in that direction as far as 
the neighbourhood of the Estero de Fanaloya, or Eio de 
Tipitapa, which is the connexion of the lake of Nicaragua 
with that of Managua. During the dry season it is an 



Chap. III. THE LAKE — THE LAGOON. 39 

extensive morass, with deep waterholes half overgrown with 
reeds ; when the rains prevail it fills with water, which by 
one or more outlets empties into the lake. At that period 
numbers offish pass through these channels from the lake 
into the lagoon. I have not the slightest doubt that this 
is the lake Songozana of which Oviedo speaks in his history 
of Nicaragua. Mr. Squier, who, in his interesting work on 
Nicaragua, gives the translation of a passage from Oviedo 
in reference to this item of Nicaraguan geography, seems 
to have misunderstood an expression of that author. When 
Oviedo says : " from the lake Cocibolca (i. e. the lake of 
Nicaragua) towards the south is the little lake Songozana' 
— this seems to be in utter contradiction to the situation of 
the lagoon, but " towards the south" — " at sur" — with 
reference to this passage, means towards the South Sea, just 
as "San Juan del Sur" means San Juan on the South 
Sea, or on the Pacific ; and by this interpretation every 
difficulty as to the meaning of Oviedo disappears. In 
Oviedo's time this lagoon was full of alligators, or rather 
crocodiles, and the country around was infested by black 
panthers and other savage animals, which greatly annoyed 
the first Spanish settlers. At present the panthers have 
disappeared, and the crocodiles have become more scarce ; 
but the sportsman will always find an almost incredible 
variety and number of the most interesting waterfowl, 
such as ducks, teal, a most beautiful species of small brown 
geese, waterhens, jacanas, snipes, plovers, herons, spoon- 
bills, flamingoes, a gigantic species of tantalus, and many 
others. 

On one of my excursions to this locality, turning my 
horse from the shore of the lake towards the swamp, I 
hit upon a boa snake, which after I had killed it proved 
to be only nine feet in length, but unusually thick in 



40 LAGUNA DE SALINAS. Book I. 

proportion, and so heavy that I found it difficult to take it 
home with me behind the saddle. My horse, too, was 
very much frightened when I first tried to lay the reptile 
on his back. I cannot tell the exact species of the animal, 
but it had a complete resemblance to some boa snakes I 
have seen in menageries ; and a Nicaraguan, who passed 
by while I was occupied in opening its body, called it bova. 
In the abdomen I found ten or twelve young ones of eight 
or nine inches in length, on which I noticed the fact that 
their brains lay entirely bare under a most delicate and 
transparent membrane. When I entered the city with my 
unusual game I produced quite an excitement, — not that 
the snake was thought to be a dragon and I a second St. 
George, but because nobody imagined that I could have 
taken it home for another purpose than to eat it. When, 
on another occasion, I caught a large toad and put it in 
alcohol, some fellow, who saw me do so, asked his com- 
panion : a What can these foreigners do with the toads ? " 
— " Comen " — " they eat them " — answered the other with 
an indescribable expression of contempt. To save the 
honour of the European nations, I pretended to catch toads 
for the purpose of preparing medicine. "Para remedio " 
— " for making medicine " — was my answer to similar 
questions from that time. 

In company with some friends I made an excursion to 
the Laguna de Salinas, which lies four or five miles to 
the west of Granada. It is a formation similar to that of 
the locality described above, called La Joya. In an ele- 
vated and thickly-wooded region a wide circular chasm is 
sunk, the bottom of which is occupied by a lake. The sur- 
rounding wall is not quite perpendicular, and a path leads 
down to the cauldron — as the formation may appropriately 
be designated 5 but the descent is very steep, and we had 



Chap. III. HOME LIFE AT GRANADA. 41 

to leave our horses above. Numerous cattle, however, be- 
longing to some farm in the neighbourhood, and roaming 
about in the woods, descend daily down to drink at the lake. 
The latter may be two or three miles in circumference. 

Its water, according to the statement of Dr. B , 

then resident in Granada, contains a considerable propor- 
tion of iodine, and has been effectually made use of in the 
cure of the wen, a disease so frequent in the neighbouring 
town of Masaya. It has a disagreeable saltish taste, and 

Dr. B himself, who was of our party, had a violent 

attack of vomiting produced by drinking it. 

My time between these and the more extended excur- 
sions, which will be related in the following chapters, was 
spent in town, in what I may call my home life at Granada. 
It was always an interval of recovery from fatigues, and 
under this plea I may venture to claim the kind reader's 
attention for a few minor remarks. 

I lived in the house of a German physician, at that time 
practising at Granada. Our life was rather of a sybaritic 
kind for a country like Nicaragua. When the dinner was 
ready, the dishes were carried in procession from the 
kitchen through the courtyard to the dining-room, which 
was an open verandah, by the servants, who, on that occa- 
sion, represented the dignity of the household by a strictly- 
observed hierarchical order. At the head of the procession 
the cook — a withered beauty with fresh yellow flowers in 
her black hair, her naked feet in a pair of dirty white satin 
shoes embroidered with gold, the reboso thrown over her left 
shoulder, and a cigar in her mouth, carrying a plate on 
each hand, spread out at the side of the head in a horizontal 
line with the ears. In a manner equally studied, though a 
little less pretending, the others, male and female, followed, 
and the rear was brought up by a boy carrying an earthen 



42 CHOCOLLITOS. Book I. 

jar filled with drinking water, who, according to his humble 
station in this domestic hierarchy, was clad in a straw hat 
and a shirt reaching from his neck down to his waist We 
kept a number of the little parrots called chocollitos in 
our court. At one time we had twenty of them. As soon 
as we sat down to our meal they would assemble to 
receive the sweets we threw to them, and would fight 
clamorously for the largest piece. These chocollitos are 
very beautiful and amusing little birds, which become tame 
almost instantaneously, and readily attach themselves to 
man, as they are in general of an amiable disposition. This 
temperament was shown in a touching manner by a sad 
catastrophe that carried away one of the little creatures. 
Most of them were young ones, and had not yet formed 
their alliances, which they generally keep with the strictest 
monogamic fidelity. There was, however, one male 
amongst them unconscientious enough to disturb the matri- 
monial peace of a united couple by seducing the mate 
of a fellow-parrot. When the latter understood the whole 
extent of his misfortune, and after he had made the last 
unsuccessful attempts to bring his faithless companion 
back to the path of duty, the unhappy creature, heart- 
broken by his wrongs, took his lonely seat on the perch on 
which he had passed happier nights closely pressed to the 
side of his partner, — refused to eat and drink, and one 
morning was found dead on the floor below. 

By another startling event the number of our little 
chocollitos was diminished. We kept a tame deer in our 
courtyard, which suddenly became transformed into a 
carnivorous beast. There is no doubt that this animal had 
been demoralised by the society of man. At our dinner- 
table it first learned to eat meat, — thoroughly cooked, it is 
true — but whether its nature was more and more perverted 



Chap. in. THE PISOTE — ANTS. 43 

by this unnatural diet, or that the green colour of the 
chocollitos contributed to the result, one day our deer 
seized one of the little birds in his mouth, and before rescue 
was possible, ate it alive. From that time the deer followed 
the savage instincts of a beast of prey, feeding on parrots, 
ducks, and chickens, till at last we found ourselves under 
the necessity of parting with its dangerous company. 

We had another mischievous animal in our house, called 
pisote. A recent author on Central America has identified 
the pisote with the racoon, but this is a mistake. The 
pisote is the Nasua fusca. This animal becomes perfectly 
tame, but neither precaution nor chastisement will prevent 
it from doing mischief. Just now it had killed a chicken, 
and was chained up in consequence. Suddenly, while we 
were sitting at breakfast, it came from some unexpected 
quarter, dragging its chain after it, leaping on the table, 
overturning the sugar-bowl and scattering the sugar 
around, dipping its long bushy tail in our cups and 
whisking it in our faces. The offender was chastised most 
unmercifully and closely confined, but a few minutes after 
it appeared again quite contented, with a young chicken in 
its mouth. The criminal was threatened with instantaneous 
death, but escaped over the roof of the house, and soon 
after the cook discovered him committing ravages in the 
pantry. 

I had several opportunities of observing the manners of 
several kinds of ants living in the houses. All of them 
are very inoffensive and even useful creatures. On one 
occasion I witnessed a remarkable instance of the concerted 
and organised action of a crowd of them. They were of 
a minute species, but by the wonderful order and ex- 
pediency in which they worked together, and which it 
would have been difficult to realise with men, they sue- 



44 ANTS. Book I. 

ceeded in performing a task apparently quite beyond their 
capability. They carried a dead scorpion of full-grown 
size up the wall of our room from the floor to the ceiling, 
and thence along the under surface of a beam to a con- 
siderable distance, where at last they brought it safely into 
their nest in the interior of the wood. During the latter 
part of this achievement they had to bear the whole weight 
of the scorpion together with their own in their inverted 
position, and in this way to move along the beam. The 
order was so perfect that not the slightest deviation from 
an absolute symmetry and equality of distances and 
arrangement in the manner of taking hold of the body of 
the scorpion and in the movement of the little army of 
workmen was observable. No corps of engineers could be 
drilled to a more absolute perfection in the performance 
of a mechanical task. According to a rough calculation 
there must have been from five to six hundred of these 
intelligent little creatures at work. Besides those engaged 
in this transport no others were seen. A single one was 
sitting on the sting at the end of the scorpion's tail, as if 
placed there to overlook and direct the whole movement ; 
all the rest, without any exception, were at work. The 
whole operation may have lasted about an hour. 

At another time I witnessed the transmigration of a 
whole state or commonwealth of ants, from a hole in the 
wall, across our verandah, into another hole in the opposite 
wall. Two facts struck my attention in this case. The 
first was that the marching army of these insects, all 
moving in one direction, consisted of individuals of such a 
difference in size and shape, that to consider them as 
belonging to one species seemed very difficult, and the idea 
of a commonwealth of different insect nationalities was 
strongly suggested ; the second that some little beetles of 



Chap. III. NATIVE INHABITANTS OF GEANADA. 45 

the family of Coccinellidae marched along with the ants 
from one hole into the other, not quite of their own will, 
for I observed that several times one of them tried to 
deviate from the line, but was quickly brought back to the 
ranks by some of the ants placing themselves at its side. 
The fact of little beetles of the very family just mentioned 
existing in the nests of ants is well known, but it is of con- 
siderable interest to see the fact repeated in distinct 
climates, with different species of insects of both tribes, and 
under opposite circumstances. 

My intercourse with the native inhabitants of Granada 
has not been very extended. The unfortunate Ponciano 
Corral, a man of an excellent character, who was then the 
military commandant of the place, but who, a few years 
later, was shot by order of William Walker, accompanied 
me one day to see the Padre Vigil, a distinguished 
member of the Nicaraguan clergy, who was afterwards 
sent by the Walker government as a diplomatic agent to 
Washington. The conversation, in which other eminent 
persons participated, turned upon that favourite topic of 
Hispano- Americans — the mines; all the gentlemen present 
having some interest in a certain mine in the province of 
Chontales which yielded a yellow substance respecting 
which a doubt existed as to whether it was gold or not. 
In the course of the conversation I was asked by which of 
the planets the gold was produced and by which the silver. 
The Padre Vigil is a man of eulightened views in religious 
matters, who has always belonged to the liberal party of 
the country, and has ever been favourable to foreigners. 
Religious toleration and hospitality towards them were the 
constant theme of his sermons delivered in the cathedral 
of Granada during the time of my residence. 

It was not without interest to me, to make the 



46 NATIVE INHABITANTS OF GEANADA. Book I. 

acquaintance of two brothers, young gentlemen belonging 
to one of the more distinguished families of the country. 
One of them filled a government office at the capital ; the 
other had studied medicine at the University of Leon and 
had commenced following his profession at Granada. 
Both were distinguished by their scientific and literary 
pursuits. The doctor, however, seemed to be stronger in 
philosophy than in the medical art and science. The 
people of Granada, who are much in the habit of showing 
their interest for a public character by giving him a 
nickname, called him Doctor Matagente, — i. e. Doctor 
Menkiller. But he was of a metaphysical turn of mind, 
feeling himself greatly attracted by the mysteries of 
German philosophy, into which he had been initiated by 
some French books that had found their way to Nicaragua. 
" The Germans," he observed, "have a great philosopher 
named Schlegel, who has written a book bearing the title 
of ' Philosophy of Life/ They have another great 
philosopher called Hegel, but this one is too difficult to 
be understood." " Los Alemanes," he continued in an 
enthusiastic strain, " son la nacion la mas cientifica, la 
mas filosofica, la mas profunda !" a compliment I was not 
prepared to hear paid to the German nation in these 
quarters of the world ; but which, considering that we had 
no man like Mr. Chatfield to make us respected in Central 
America, I thought a great consolation. The doctor's 
brother, the politician, is the author of several pamphlets 
printed in Nicaragua. In reading one of them, it struck 
me how schools and systems of philosophy, even without 
being understood, extend their influence over the world, 
and how even the most abstract metaphysician of Germany 
should never forget — and especially if he should have the 
misfortune of being translated into French — that he may 



Chap. III. NATIVE INHABITANTS OF GRANADA. 47 

cause some mischief in Nicaragua. The Nicaraguan 
writer I am speaking of, the brother of the admirer of 
Schlegel and Hegel, is the author of an essay on the 
Nicaraguan revolution in which he quotes Tacitus and 
Puffendorf, Ancillon and Vattel, Guizot and Louis Blanc, 
Madame de Stael and Montesquieu, Droz and Matter, 
Necker and Mirabeau ; and speaks of idealism and 
antagonism, aspirantism and dualism, proselytism, ana- 
chronism, and several other equally dangerous principles. 



48 JINOTEPET. Book I. 



CHAPTEK IV. 

Indian village of Jinotepet — Columnar Cactus and Yucca-trees — Dividing 
Kidge between the Pacific and the Atlantic — Climate of this Kegion — Cul- 
tivation of Sugar and Coffee — Boundary-line between different Indian Baces 
— Indian Languages of Nicaragua — Aztec Words in the Spanish Idiom of 
the Country — Geographical Names of Aztec Origin — Pretended Gold 
Mines — Indian Hospitality, 

Towards the end of December I made an excursion to a 
large Indian village called Jinotepet, situated about twenty 
miles from Granada, in a west-southwesterly direction. 
I wished to examine a vein of silver-ore, which was said to 
exist in the neighbourhood. The samples which I had 
seen presented a considerable proportion of the red silver- 
ore, accompanying a mass of sulphuret of antimony. 

The road to Jinotepet crosses a range of hills extending 
from Mount Mombacho, in the direction towards the vol- 
cano of Masaya. There is a spring on the road-side at the 
eastern foot of the pass, which, from that circumstance, is 
called La F'uente, the fountain. Springs are of rare occur- 
rence in this country. 

On the other side of the ridge a hilly country extends, 
in which the scenery is agreeably varied. Here and there 
a hut with a small plantation of bananas is seen in the 
woods. I passed the village of Dirid, where I saw for the 
first time the columnar cactus, and a species of Yucca, of 
high tree-like growth, which the inhabitants call espaditto, 
while to the columnar cactus they give the name of organo. 
Both plants belong to the drier and more western region of 
Nicaragua, to which they communicate something of the 



Chap. IV. PLAIN OF JINOTEPET. 49 

character of the Mexican table-land. This kind of cactus 
is planted in some villages for enclosures of gardens and 
courtyards, to which such a fence affords the most effective 
protection. It may be called a living vegetable wall, which 
has no fault, but that it grows too high if allowed to do so ; 
the columns frequently reaching fifteen or twenty feet. 
Nothing is more easy than to plant such a fence. Old 
trunks are divided into stumps of a certain length, and 
these, taking care not to invert them by mistake, are placed 
side by side vertically in the ground, where they soon 
begin to strike root and thrive. In the more eastern, 
the lower and moister regions of the country, the pinuela 
— a kind of Bromelia or wild pine-apple — is used for 
fences. 

The western half of the road passes over a plain occu- 
pied by a savana without trees or shrubs, called the Llano 
de Jinotepet. This is the central part of a flat swell of 
country separating the slope to the Atlantic from that to 
the Pacific. To the north of this plain the volcano of 
Masaya is seen, with which a short ridge, called the Sierra 
de Masatepet, is connected. On a hill of the latter, marked 
by a group of high palm-trees, stands the village of Masa- 
tepet. To the north-east is the Mombacho, and round its 
southern foot, passing the village of Diriomo, the plain 
slopes gradually down to the lake, changing at the same 
time the character of the vegetation by its transition into a 
park-like country with groups of trees and bushes. This 
change seems to be the effect of the greater moisture of the 
local climate of the south-western side of the mountain. 
As is the case with other high peaks of this region, the lee 
or south-western side of the Mombacho is moistened, even 
during the dry season, when the country around is parched, 
by an almost daily atmospheric exudation of a very re- 

E 



50 J INOTEPET — CLIMATE. Book I. 

stricted local character, extending scarcely beyond the 
base of the mountain. While riding over the plain, the 
fata morgana produced the aspect of an extended lake with 
numerous wooded islands, — a charming and unexpected 
view. 

The situation of Jinotepet, at the western extremity of 
the plain, and separated from it only by a little valley 
where trees re-appear, is on the highest elevation of the 
flat swell above-mentioned. At a little distance only from 
the village are the springs of several brooks flowing to the 
Pacific. They have a rapid fall, passing through narrow 
gorges, overgrown with forests of mighty trees. The dis- 
tance from Jinotepet to the Pacific, however, is about the 
same as that to Granada. Some maps, which place this 
village close to the sea-coast, are defective in this respect. 
By its elevation above the sea Jinotepet has a cool and 
bracing climate. Early in the morning I found the air so 
sharp, that I regretted to have no gloves with me. This 
place, most likely, is as healthy as any on the face of the 
globe. The census made in 1847 gives 4650 inhabitants, 
with 255 births, and 83 deaths ; and reports a mean tem- 
perature of 15° Reaumur, from which, according to the 
general equality of the climate of Central- America, the 
extremes can be but slightly deviating. The inhabitants 
of the village, who are almost exclusively Indians, are a 
very industrious race. They are the principal sugar- 
growers in Nicaragua, and all around, during my visit, I 
heard the rattling noise of their trapiches, or primitive 
sugar-mills, turned by mules. The cultivation of the 
coffee, too, had been lately introduced at Jinotepet, and 
there is no doubt that the situation and climate are well 
adapted for the purpose. A considerable stock of cattle is 
kept on some farms of this neighbourhood. The census of 



Chap. IV. AZTEO WORDS USED. 51 

the above-named year shows an export of 400 arrobas of 
cheese, and several thousand hides. 

I found the people of this village very intelligent and 
polite. Two of the principal men took me between them, 
and proceeded to show me the sights of the place. This 
I found very neat and clean. The public square before the 
church, a building of some pretensions, which, however, 
remains in an unfinished state, had a fresh green sward, 
producing quite a northern impression, with which, how- 
ever, the purity and brightness of the dark-blue sky, the 
balmy softness of the air, the erect trunks of the columnar 
cactus, the lily-trees of the yucca, and the plantations of 
pulcre — a small species of agave, — were in strong contra- 
diction. 

I am not sure to which of the two adjoining races of 
Nicaraguan Indians — the Aztecs and the Dirians — the 
population of Jinotepet is to be referred. They have given 
up their Indian language. Some old men, I was told, still 
retain it, but when I was at the place I could get no 
information on the subject. In their physiognomy and 
manners, the Indian type could not be mistaken. As I 
passed through the streets, I saw young women, with the 
upper part of their body uncovered, but with flowers in 
their hair, standing in some of the doorways, only with- 
drawing a little as I came near. In the name of the 
village, the two last syllables, "tepet" are derived from the 
Aztec language, in which tepetl 1 means a mountain. The 
whole name was translated to me by " wind-mountain. " 



1 The original termination in tl is 
either omitted entirely, or loses the I, 
or changes into c in the remnants of the 
Aztec language in Nicaragua, and it 
appears that the same is the case in 
other parts of Central America and in 



Mexico. In Nicaragua, for instance, 
we have the names Jlnotepe, Jinotepec, 
Jinotepet, — Masatepe, Masatepec, Masa- 
tepet, — instead of the original Jinotepetl 
and Masaiepetl. 

E 2 



52 LANGUAGES SPOKEN IN NICARAGUA. Book L 

The derivation of the two first syllables is uncertain. From 
several circumstances, it appears that the village of Jino- 
tepet is just on the old boundary line between the territo- 
ries of a fragment of the Aztec race settled in Nicaragua, 
and of another tribe of Indians called the Dirians or Cho- 
rotegans. According to the statements of Oviedo and some 
other early historians, there were five different languages 
spoken in Nicaragua at the time of the first arrival of the 
Spaniards. One of those languages was that of the Chon- 
tales, or inhabitants of the mountainous regions to the north- 
east of the lake of Nicaragua. Of that language and race 
I shall speak in another chapter, when I relate my excur- 
sion to the province of Chontales and to the plateau of 
Upper Mosquitia. Amongst the four remaining Indian 
languages of the country, the Aztec is the most important. 
The islands of the lake of Nicaragua and the isthmus of 
Bivas seem to be the most southern country inhabited by 
the Aztec race, and it is a fragment of the nation, separated 
from the main stock, which has occupied this small region 
placed between other Indian tribes. Mr. Squier was the 
first to elucidate the fact, that the language of the present 
inhabitants of the island of Ometepe is the Aztec. The 
name of that island itself is a compound of the two Aztec 
words ome — which means two — and tepetl, the whole cor- 
responding to the nature of the island, which is composed 
of two volcanic peaks with a low neck of land between them. 
The region inhabited by this fragment of the Aztec nation, 
or Nahuatlac race — if this latter designation should appear 
preferable — is Nicaragua Proper, the district to which the 
name now given to the whole country was exclusively 
applied at the time of the discovery ; and even now the 
residents of Granada or other parts of the republic, when 
they visit Eivas, San Jorge, or other places of that district, 



Chai>. IV. LANGUAGES SPOKEN IN NICAEAGUA. 53 

say that they are going to Nicaragua. Mr. Squier, follow- 
ing, if I am not mistaken, Oviedo, reapplies the old name 
of Niquirans to these Nicaraguan Aztecs. At the time of 
the discovery, another nation, called the Orotinans, lived 
south of them on the gulf of Nicoyo or Orotina, while to the 
north — in the districts of Granada, Masaya, Tipitapa, 
Managua, Diriomo, Diria, Diriamba, &c. — were the Dirians. 
Still farther on to the northwest were the Nagrandans, in 
the district of Leon, and beyond them on the gulf of 
Fonseca, a nation called the Cholutecans had their seats. 

These four nations, — the Dirians, Orotinans, Nagran- 
dans, and Cholutecans, — taken together, must have spoken 
three languages, to make up the five Indian dialects men- 
tioned by the old Spanish historians of Nicaragua ; and 
accordingly it remains to be investigated which two of 
them have had one language in common. Two of these 
three languages — that of the Dirians and that of the 
Nagrandans — are still in existence, and vocabularies, toge- 
ther with the outlines of their grammatical structure, have 
been published by Mr. Squier ; the Dirian collected from 
the Indians of Masaya, the Nagrandan from those of 
Subtiaba, near Leon. Nothing, however, has come to our 
knowledge of the language of the two remaining nations, 
the Orotinans and the Cholutecans. Mr. Squier is inclined 
to suppose that the Orotinans belonged to the Nagrandans. 
Amongst the geographical names of the country inhabited 
by the former, we meet with that of the volcano of Orosi, 
in Costarica; while one of the volcanos of the chain of the 
Maribios, near Leon, in the old country of the Nagrandans, 
is called Orota. It is very likely that both names have 
the same derivation, and may be considered as a trace of 
affinity between the two tribes. The question may still be 
solved, in case some remnants of the old language of the 



54 GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES Book I. 

Orotinans should be found to exist in the government of 
Guanacaste, disputed between Nicaragua and Costarica. 
Another supposition, however, may be made to distribute 
the three languages amongst the four nations. The Cho- 
lutecans may have spoken an Aztec dialect, and thus have 
had their language in common with the Niquirans. Ac- 
cording to Sahagun, one of the seven tribes of the 
Nahuatlacs, who all spoke the Aztec language, were called 
the Chololtecas, a word which, in its original Aztec form, 
was Chololtecatl, meaning a native of Cholola. If, then, 
the Cholutecans of the region around the Gulf of Fonseca 
should have been a branch or fragment of the Chololtecas 
of Mexico, the name being merely modified by the vicious 
pronunciation of the other Nicaraguan tribes, they must 
have spoken the Aztec language ; which is to say that 
they spoke the same language with the Niquirans or 
true Nicaraguans. The wide distribution of geographical 
names derived from the Aztec language, which are found 
spread over the northern section of Nicaragua, seems to 
corroborate this opinion. There is, however, a circum- 
stance contradictory to it. The old historians have a third 
form of what is apparently the same word. It is the name 
of the Chorotegans. According to Herrera, the " Cholu- 
tecans" were a noble caste of the " Chorotegans." The 
latter word, therefore, was a more comprehensive denomi- 
nation than the former, and it was sometimes used for all 
the four nations above mentioned. Oviedo, on the other 
hand, uses the two names of Dirians and Chorotegans 
indiscriminately for the same nation, whose language is 
sufficiently known to prove that it has no affinity with the 
Aztec. From these facts it would appear that the name 
of the Chorotegans must have been used in more than one 
sense, but which had nothing to do with the affinity of 



Chap. IV. OF AZTEC ORIGIN. 55 

races, and most likely expressed some old political con- 
nexion of the Cholutecans with nations who spoke a different 
language from that of the latter. In this extended histo- 
rical application the name was vulgarised, while the caste of 
" nobles" (i. e. y the real Cholutecans), who may have been 
a fragment of the Chololtecas of Mexico, retained the purer 
form of the denomination. Whatever may be the true 
explanation of these difficulties, the question as to the 
language of the Cholutecans of Nicaragua may still be 
decided by the study of the Indian idioms still existing in 
the district of Honduras called Choluteca, on the Gulf of 
Fonseca, and in the Nicaraguan provinces of Nuevo Segovia 
and Matagalpa. 

As to the village of Jinotepet, Mr. Buschmann, of Berlin, 
who is deeply engaged in the investigation of American 
languages, and who has published a paper on the geogra- 
phical names derived from the Aztec, 1 could not translate 
the two first syllables ; but, the whole name being trans- 
lated to me as signifying " wind-mountain," Jino may be a 
contraction or mutilation of the word Chiquinau, which, 
according to Oviedo, was one of the two names the inha- 
bitants of Nicaragua gave to the god of the wind. The 
other name was Hecact, which is the Aztec Ehecatl, 
signifying wind. Chiquinau, then, must have been the 
name of that deity, or of the element of the air, in the 
Dirian language, and the name of Jinotepet appears as a 
compound of two words derived from two languages. The 
same seems to be the case with the name of the neigh- 
bouring village of Masatepet, though Mr. Buschmann trans- 
lates it by deer-mountain, from the Aztec mazatl, deer. 
That village, however, is quite close to the town of Masaya, 



Ueber die Aztekischen Ortsnamen. Von Job. Carl Ed. Buschmann. Berlin, 1853. 



56 AZTEC WORDS IN THE SPANISH IDIOM. Book I. 

and, like Jinotepet, was situated on the boundary-line 
between the two languages — the Aztec and the Dirian. 
In the latter, according to Oviedo, the word masaya means 
" the burning mountain." By the Aztec neighbours of 
the Dirians, the volcano at the foot of which the town of 
Masaya is situated was called Popogatepec — "the smok- 
ing mountain'* — a name synonymous with that of the 
celebrated Popocatepetl, of Mexico. Thus, the name of 
the village of Masatepet likewise seems to be a compound 
of two words belonging to two languages, as the first part 
is apparently connected with that of the town and volcano 
of Masaya. 

The encroachments of the Aztec language on the other 
idioms of Central America are an interesting fact which 
may contribute to throw light on the migrations of the 
American aboriginal races and the history of their civili- 
zation. In Nicaragua, where, as far as we know, only a 
fragment of the Aztec race existed at the time of the 
conquest, still a considerable number of Aztec words have 
been admitted in the Spanish idiom of the country ; as, for 
instance: moyote, the mosquito; Aztec moyotl; — sacate, 
grass ; Aztec sacatl ; — mecate, thread ; Aztec mecatl ; — 
metate, the stone on which mais is ground ; Aztec metatl. 
The latter three words, like many others, are in common 
use in the Spanish idiom of Mexico. A beautiful little 
bird, of red colour, frequently seen in Nicaragua, is called 
cicitote. The name, no doubt, is a compound of the two 
Aztec words, chichiltic, red, and tototl, bird. One circum- 
stance, however, is particularly striking, as an instance of 
the adoption of Aztec words in the Spanish dialect of 
Nicaragua. In the social life of Granada the word "pipe" 
(pronounced peepey) is used as an address or title of honour 
and affection granted to any superior or more distinguished 



Chap. -IV. AZTEC WORDS IN THE SPANISH IDIOM. 57 

and cherished person of the male sex. A younger brother 
addresses the older one with this title. I heard the word 
first during a surgical operation, throughout which the 
patient, a young girl, continued to exclaim, " Ay doctor- 
cito ! — ay mi hermano! — ay pipe!" — i.e., oh my dear 
doctor ! — oh my brother ! — oh pipe ! On asking, I received 
the above explanation. At this moment, an Aztec tribe, 
living in the State of Salvador, is called the Pipiles. 
According to Mr. Buschmann, this name is an Aztec word. 
Pipilli, as he states, and a reduplication of pilli, which has 
the double meaning of child and nobleman (like the Ger- 
man word junker), and which, ill the compound meaning 
of noble child, is used as the name of the tribe in Salvador, 
and as an expression of tenderness and respect in the 
social life of Granada. The latter town, however, stands 
on the site of an old city of the Chorotegans or Dirians, 
not of the Niquirans, and the Aztec element in its society, 
therefore, must have been introduced from Nicaragua 
Proper and the islands of the lake; while its Indian 
suburb of Jalteva has remained purely Dirian in its popu- 
lation. It is of considerabe interest to see that in the 
political dissensions of the country the inhabitants of 
Jalteva have always been on the side of the city of Leon 
against Granada, while the latter has invariably been 
supported by the whole Aztec population of Nicaragua 
Proper. The fact shows how the old animosities of 
different Indian nations are still at the root of the civil 
wars of Central America. 

But I have almost forgotten my visit to Jinotepet. 

The information that a foreign "cavallero" had arrived 

for the purpose of examining the mines of Jinotepet, had 

spread through the village and produced a considerable 

excitement. People of both sexes and of all ages came to 



58 PKETENDED GOLD MINES. Book L 

see me. Foremost amongst them was a number of old 
women, who crowded around me, all the time speaking 
of gold mines and silver mines, of yellow metals and white 
metals, and of certain lights or flames seen at night, called 
carbunculos, by which those metals are indicated. As 
they became more and more excited by their recitals, their 
imaginations grew heated, their statements extravagant, 
and their gesticulations violent. A crowd of naked children, 
with mouths and eyes wide open, were standing or sitting 
around. One little boy in particular struck my attention- 
Sitting on the floor, his monstrous globular belly resting on 
his crossed legs, the soles of his feet turned upwards, each 
of his hands holding one of his great toes, while all the 
time he was staring in my face ; he resembled more an 
idol formed of brown clay, than a living human being. 

As the result of my inquiries into the situation of the 
silver mine of which I had heard at Granada, I learned that 
a complete mistake had prevailed ; the metallic vein which 
it had been my intention to inspect being farther distant 
from Jinotepet than from Granada. The cura of the 
place, however, to whom I had a letter of recommendation, 
in explaining the error, took pains to convince me that I 
had no cause to repent my visit to Jinotepet, as he had 
discovered two gold-mines on his own land which would be 
equally worth examination. One of them he called the 
" mina del Salto," the other the u mina de la Conquista." 
Being here, I consented to visit the two places. The 
alcalde of Jinotepet provided me with a fresh horse and a 
guide ; several boys of the village volunteered to accom- 
pany me, and I rode out in the direction to the Pacific. 

The road, after we had left the sugar-plantations of the 
village behind us, passed through a charming landscape of 
hills partially wooded. Towards the Pacific, the country 



Chap. IV. PKETENDED GOLD MINES. 59 

assumes gradually a wild and romantic character. Narrow- 
gorges began, rapidly descending towards the coast. Little 
streams of transparent water rush over coloured pebbles, 
and hastening from cascade to cascade, enter a belt of 
forest separating the open region of the higher country 
from the sea-shore. We passed several deserted indigo 
estates, where extensive buildings were left to decay in the 
wilderness. The rocks of this region seemed to belong to 
a metamorphic tertiary formation, somewhat of a chloritic 
and schisteous character. u Aqui estd la minal " — here is 
the mine ! — cried the guide, pointing to the bank of a 
brook. The rock, of the character just described, con- 
tained numerous little crystals of iron pyrites. Of course, 
it is not impossible that some particles of gold may accom- 
pany the pyrites, but the priest who was the owner of the 
locality and designated it as a gold mine, had no other 
reasons for his extravagant opinion than the yellow colour 
and metallic appearance of the pyrites. 

When my guide and the boys who had followed me saw 
me break off a few samples of the rock and put them in 
my pocket, they began most eagerly to do the same. To 
tell them that the yellow specks in the rock were not gold 
would have been absolutely fruitless. The poor horses 
were chiefly to be pitied, as, besides their riders, they had 
to bear their newly acquired wealth. On our way home 
the guide came up to my side asking me in a confidential 
manner how many pesos the pound of gold was worth. 
In the village the excitement grew so high, that I felt 
induced to throw away the samples I had collected. This 
again the others imitated. A crowd of little boys ran 
after the stones, throwing them farther and farther off in a 
spiteful manner, and I am confident the village has been 
purged of the last particle of the delusive yellow substance. 



60 PKETENDED GOLD MINES. Book I, 

There was, however, a gentleman in the room in which 
I had been received, a priest from a neighbouring village, 
who, with an expression in his countenance which seemed 
to say : " I know better," looked doubtfully and seriously 
at these proceedings. After he had remained silent for a 
time, he drew a sheet of the official gazette of Leon from 
his pocket. It contained a proclamation from the Nicara- 
guan minister for the interior, stating that in the neigh- 
bourhood of the capital a most important discovery had 
been made. A bed of gold dust had been found, richer 
than the richest " placer " of California. " In consequence 
of this discovery" — thus the proclamation concluded — " our 
beloved Nicaragua will soon take the honourable position 
assigned to it amongst the nations of the globe. This 
country, favoured with the predilection of divine providence, 
will reach its glorious and happy destiny." This proclama- 
tion the gentleman read aloud. My sceptical remarks 
were received with contempt, and I perceived that I was 
looked at as a man who, from selfish motives, tried to 
dissuade the people from believing in the treasures hidden 
in the ground of their country. When I returned to 
Granada, however, it was already discovered that the 
authorities of Leon had been deceived — nobody knew for 
what exact purpose — by some Yankees returning from 
California, who buried a small quantity of gold-dust and 
then announced their pretended discovery to the govern- 
ment. 

The place described above was what the owner called 
the " mina del Salto." The " mina de la Conquista " 
proved to be of the same description : the same rock, the 
same little cubes of iron pyrites disseminated through it. 
But I had no cause to repent my ride of twenty-four 
miles. The country had some spots of incomparable 



Chap. IV. INDIAN HOSPITALITY. 61 

beauty. At noon I rested at the habitation of an Indian 
family. Their little hut in the woods was surrounded by 
a selection of the rarest and most distinguished flowering 
shrubs of the country. This, as I have already observed, 
is a characteristic taste of the Indian population of Nica- 
ragua. Near their habitations I have seen some plants 
and flowers of extraordinary beauty, which I observed 
nowhere else, neither in a wild nor in a cultivated state, 
and which it might even be of some historical interest to 
study as to their native region. I was very politely 
received by the female inhabitants, no men being present, 
a dinner of eggs, chocolate, plantains, and oranges was 
served up in a clean and decent manner, and when, on 
taking leave, I proposed payment, I was told that it had 
been given u de carino" out of hospitality. 



62 VISIT TO LEON. Book I., 



CHAPTEE V. 

A Trip to Leon — Tipitapa — Connexion between the two Lakes interrupted 

— Decreasing Level of the Lake of Managua — Hot Sulphur Springs — A 
Saint's Day — Adam and Eve — Theatrical Entertainment — Managua and 
Mateares — Silver Ore and Lignite — Amber found in Nicaragua — Naga- 
rote — The Volcanic Chain of the Maribios — Pueblo Nuevo — The Cha- 
chalagua — Leon — General Munoz — The Cathedral — Proletarians of Leon 

— A French Colonization Project — Gold Mines of Matagalpa — Extensive 
Gold Region. 

On the 12th of January, 1851, I left Granada on a visit 
to Leon, the capital of Nicaragua. The direct road leads 
to Masaya, but intending to pass there on my way back, I 
took the direction to Tipitapa, a village thirty miles to the 
north of Granada, situated on the channel connecting the 
lake of Nicaragua with that of Managua, but which had 
been dried up by an earthquake in 1844. 

I crossed a plain overgrown with shrubs and trees, 
where I saw or heard numerous monkeys, parrots, macaws,, 
curassows, pigeons, and other birds that I did not recognize* 
In passing I shot a pair of beautiful pigeons, of a species' 
called morena, for my supper. This is the largest of seven 
different species which I have observed in Nicaragua, being 
of the size of our common domestic pigeon, and of a 
brownish rose-colour. In the evening I arrived at Tipitapa 
and took up my abode in the house of a man of distinction 
in the village, where I found such accommodations for the 
night as a traveller has a right to expect in Central 
America. 

The next morning I went to see what is called the river 
and falls of Tipitapa, but which I found to be the dry 



Chap. V. TIPITAPA. 63 

channel once occupied by a river, with a perpendicular 
rock from twelve to fifteen feet high, crossing it, which 
would form a cascade if there was water to fall over it. 
This is the present condition of the Eio and Salto de Tipi- 
tapa — or rather was its condition when I visited the place. 
I was afterwards informed, as I have already stated, that 
the river ceased to flow in consequence of an earthquake 
which happened in 1844. This, however, must not be 
understood in the absolute sense of the word. A little 
streamlet may run over the "salto" in the rainy season, 
and the more probably as there are several springs of hot 
water in the bed of the river. At the time of my visit 
they filled only some stagnant pools, but they may con- 
tribute to produce a rivulet during the rainy season. The 
lower section of the old river channel is now to be con- 
sidered as a narrow branch of the lake of Nicaragua, ex- 
tending upwards to the neighbourhood of the " salto," and 
called the Ester o Panaloya, of which I shall have to 
speak hereafter. To study the changes in the hydro- 
graphic system of this region produced by the earthquake 
mentioned above, more time would have been necessary 
than it was my intention to spend in my visit to Tipitapa ; 
but the principal cause of my inability to give a more 
exact account is that the fact of the earthquake was only 
communicated to me after my return to Granada, none of 
the inhabitants of Tipitapa mentioning the matter. While 
travelling along the shore of the lake of Managua I after- 
wards saw indubitable traces of the lake having had a 
higher level in former times and having decreased gradually, 
or in intervals, as indicated by the repetition of watermarks 
on the rocks. If the sudden sinking of the lake was pro- 
duced by earthquake, the slow and gradual diminution of 
its water, which I suppose is still going on, may have been 



64 THE SAN JUAN RIVER. Book I, 

caused by the combined influence of subterranean drainage 
and of evaporation ; and perhaps the latter alone may be 
sufficient to explain the fact. This lake, with the exception 
of its middle section, is very shallow. While bathing near 
Mateares, I observed that you may walk into it for a great 
distance from the shore, and I was even told at the latter 
place that a man on horseback might cross over to Momo- 
tombito, a distance of twelve or fifteen miles. Whether 
this is true or not I cannot tell, but from my observation 
of the nature of the bottom of the lake I should think it 
very possible. As far as I could observe, the lake rests 
on a horizontal sheet of lava. 

Much has been said respecting the former navigation of 
the San Juan river. Vessels coming directly from Spain, 
it has been stated, have formerly ascended that river, 
passed through the lake of Nicaragua and anchored at 
Granada. Such a thing being now utterly impossible, as 
the reader is aware from my statements in reference to the 
rapids at the Castillo Viejo, a question has been raised as 
to the cause by which the change has been produced. The 
Castillo rapids, it has been maintained, have been purposely 
rendered impassable by the Spaniards throwing rocks into 
the river. This may be true. But, at the same time, 
may not a general diminution of water in the hydrographic 
system of the San Juan river, including the lake of 
Managua, be the principal and original cause of so im- 
portant a change in the natural facilities of communication 
existing in Nicaragua ? I do not know whether these 
considerations have ever been brought to bear on the 
question of the inter-oceanic canal. 

To return to Tipitapa, I have to state that the copious 
hot spring which bursts from the ground on the bank of the 
old river-bed is strongly sulphurous, with excellent medical 



Chap. V. HOT SULPHUR SPRINGS. 65 

qualities. The whole place has the smell of sulphuretted 
hydrogen, and the mineral incrustations around the spring 
are impregnated with sulphur. The taste of the water, 
which is boiling, corresponds to this chemical character ; 
but the sulphurous element is less strong than might be 
expected. Besides this, the taste is sweet, and has much 
the savour of broth, so general in a certain class of hot 
mineral waters. I drank from this spring copiously before 
my breakfast, and experienced a very pleasant sensation from 
it, as if I had taken a plate of soup or a good cup of coffee. 
Close to this hot sulphur spring is another of pure cold 
water, and cold and hot springs seem to exist close together 
in the old river-bed. I shot a cormorant, which fell into a 
pool of cold water filling a basin in the channel. When I 
sent my servant in to fetch the bird, his feet suddenly 
encountered a hot spring in the midst of the cold water, 
and were nearly scalded. Below the step of rock which 
had formed the fall, was a deep basin filled with warm 
water, in which I intended to bathe, when I saw some 
small alligators rise from the bottom and then disappear 
again. On a rock in the midst of this pool sat an iguana 
of the size of a boy ten years old, the largest specimen of 
this repulsive kind of lizard I have ever seen. I was 
previously unaware of the fact that these animals can 
swim. 

Strolling about at this interesting locality, I spent a day 
at Tipitapa. The following day was to be the festival of 
" our Lord of Esquipulas," who has a sanctuary at this 
place, and from all directions the inhabitants of the neigh- 
bouring country arrived, until in the evening Tipitapa had 
the aspect of a gay and crowded fair. After dark the 
people were amused by a theatrical entertainment in which 
priests were the actors. The subject was a clownish repro- 



66 A SAINT'S DAY. Book I. 

duction of a character similar to the Tartuffe — a hypocrite 
who tries to seduce the virtuous wife of his friend. The 
female part, too, was represented by a priest. Coarse 
jests and morals were mixed up in the play, by which the 
crowd appeared to be mightily amused and edified. 

The immense congregation of people who had arrived on 
the eve of the celebration deprived me of the accommoda- 
tions I had enjoyed for the first night. I had to give up 
my " cama " or bedstead, in which I had rested, after the 
fashion of the country, on a skin or sheet of parchment 
stretched on a frame, and was reduced to sleep on a rough 
and stiff hide spread on the floor of a large room, in which 
the bed of the landlord and his pretty young wife, decently 
surrounded with curtains, held a conspicuous place. When 
I opened my eyes at dawn, I saw my landlord and his 
wife up. The young woman was singing, in a low voice, 
the " Versos de la Viuda," or Song of the Widow — a favou- 
rite air of the country — and she afterwards took a jar 
filled with water, which she poured over the head of her 
husband, then dried his back carefully with a towel, after 
which the happy couple dressed in joyful mood. 

During the morning I spent half an hour in the room, 
finishing a sketch I had made of the scenery near the hot 
springs. Several women stood around me, looking at my 
occupation, and making their remarks as if I did not under- 
stand their language. " Look !" said one of them, " he is 
only writing a little, and yet he is perspiring as if he was 
doing hard work." " Es cavallero tan delicato — he is such 
a delicate gentleman," replied the other. 

On the 14th I continued my journey, and in the even- 
ing reached Mateares, a little village situated on the shore 
of the Lake of Managua, and distant about forty miles 
from Tipitapa. From the latter place to Managua the 



Chap. V. MANAGUA AND MATEARES. 67 

road leads through the woods close to the Lake, but with- 
out an opening to allow a view of it. Managua, the seat 
of the Nicaraguan legislature, is a town of twelve or 
thirteen thousand inhabitants, in a splendid situation, on 
an elevated portion of the shore. Between this place and 
Mateares a peninsula projects into the Lake. It is formed 
of steep and wooded hills. The road takes the straight 
line, by passing over .the neck by which the peninsula is 
joined to the mainland. This is a pass of considerable 
importance in a military point of view. On the south- 
eastern side of it the traveller, between magnificent trees 
on the edge of a precipice, looks down on the lake at his 
feet, while beyond it his eye is arrested by the high vol- 
canic cones in the vicinity of Leon, or by the more dis- 
tant chain of Matagalpa. The road descends gradually 
towards Mateares, passing through an open forest of scat- 
tered trees, with an undergrowth of pinuela and a variety 
of shrubs. Many of the trees and shrubs were in full 
blossom, entirely covered with yellow, pink, or violet 
flowers. 

At Mateares I found lodgings in the hut of a good- 
natured thick mulatto woman, where I passed the night 
in a hammock. Dona Juana was famous for preparing the 
best chocolate on the road, and I found she merited her 
reputation. She liked to have a talk with the travellers 
who entered her dwelling, and I was soon such a favourite 
with her that with her own lips she lit a cigar and put it 
in my mouth. After I had taken my meal, some of the 
more distinguished personages of the village assembled 
around me, and we were soon engaged in a lively conver- 
sation, during which I was asked whether I was a Christian, 
and whether the Jews were not very bad men. As long 

f 2 



68 SILVER ORE AND LIGNITE. Book L 

as they were of opinion that I was a native of the United 
States, they spoke in terms of admiration of that people ; 
but when they learned that I was born in Germany, one of 
them asked me, quite in a confidential manner, whether I did 
not think "que los Americanos son bestias." Upon my 
objecting to this expression it was revoked ; but the man, 
having once given vent to his feelings, could not abstain 
from expressing them in a milder form, by adding that, 
at least, the Americans were devils. " Pe o son demo- 
nios !" he exclaimed ; " demonios son estos hombres !" 

At Mateares I had a conversation with a young man of 
one of the more distinguished families of the country living 
at Managua. He stated that on the hacienda of San Lo- 
renzo, thirty miles from Mateares, on the coast of the 
Pacific, he had discovered a quicksilver mine. But the 
specimen he communicated to me, instead of being cinna- 
bar, proved to be red silver ore. This metallic vein must 
be in the vicinity of that which I intended to examine when 
I went to Jinotepet, and the ore is probably of the same 
nature as that of the latter. In the region between Ma- 
teares and the Pacific strata of lignite are found, and the 
young Nicaraguan said that he could show me the locality 
of a coal mine. This, however, is a more general feature 
in the geology of the Pacific side of Central America, and 
even of other Pacific regions of the continent ; as, for 
instance, of California, where small layers of tertiary coal 
are very general in the coast-range. In Central America, 
lignite, including amber, occasionally occurs from Costa- 
rica to Salvador, and, in all probability, farther south as 
well as farther north. Pieces of amber, some with insects 
in them, derived from the tertiary coal formation of the 
Bay of Tamarinda, I saw at Leon in possession of Dr. 



Chap. V. VOLCANIC CHAIN OF THE MAKIBIOS. 69 

Gregorio Juares, and of the American consul, Dr. Living- 
ston. The latter showed me some samples of coal from 
the neighbourhood of Leon. They were of a greyish black 
colour, rather hard, with the texture of wood clearly 
visible. On being burnt, a considerable quantity of ashes 
were left, in some cases of a white, in others of a red 
colour. In the state of Salvador this tertiary coal forma- 
tion seems to have a sufficient development to promise a 
certain degree of future importance. 

On the following day I proceeded to Pueblo Nuevo, 
where I passed the night. From Mateares this is only 
a distance of thirty miles or a little more. The road, 
between Mateares and Nagarote, a village halfway to 
Pueblo Nuevo, is most interesting and has some charming 
sections. For a time it leads along under the shade of 
gigantic trees, while the eye passes over the lake and rests 
on the mountains of Matagalpa and the peaks of the 
Maribios, beginning with the island of Momotombito visited 
by Mr. Squier, who has described its idols. Next comes 
the noble cone of the Momotombo, about 7000 feet high. 
From its summit a thin cloud of steam rises, scarcely 
traceable in the pure atmosphere. Farther on, the 
Asososca, or, more correctly spelled, the Axosco, is seen. 
Mr. Buschmann thinks that this name can be derived from 
the Aztec ak, meaning water, and xotla, signifying to 
'kindle or burn, the whole word Axochco having the signifi- 
cation of a "volcano of water," like the "volcan de agua" 
of Guatemala. Then follow the Pilas, the Orota, and the 
Telica, the Santa Clara and the Viejo, which complete the 
enumeration of the whole system, but are concealed from 
the view. At certain places the road, still following the 
shore of the lake, passes over small tracts of loose sand, 



70 NAGAEOTE — PUEBLO NUEVO. Book I. 

overgrown with shrubs of the mimosa, with yellow catkins 
of a most exquisite odour, from which the shrub, which 
yields a gum like the gum arabic, bears the name of 
aroma. 

Nagarote is a village of bad reputation. I arrived there 
at noon and spent an hour at dinner. After I had left, 
my servant rode up to my side and said : " El senor de la 
casa es capitan de ladrones ;" " the landlord of the house 
where we stopped is the chief of a band of robbers." On 
both sides of Nagarote the road passes through a forest, 
and this neighbourhood was deemed among the unsafest 
parts of Nicaragua. 

I left Pueblo Nuevo early in the morning. The streets 
of this village, which is a place of some consideration, are 
between rows of the columnar cactus or organo, the houses 
standing back in the courtyards formed by these natural 
walls. The first part of the road from hence to Leon leads 
again through the woods. The sun had not yet risen when 
I entered them, and in all directions I heard the call 
of the chachalagua, a kind of wild chicken or pheasant, 
common throughout the hot regions of Central America 
and Mexico. I could never succeed in shooting this bird, 
of which I was told in Honduras that it crosses with the 
tame chicken, producing hybrids of which the males are 
highly valued as fighting cocks. 

When the road approaches to within a few leagues of 
Leon the country opens, and a beautiful plain, well 
cultivated with maize, expands before the sight. To the 
left a ridge of wooded hills, bordering the sea-coast, 
discovers itself; to the right is the chain of volcanic peaks 
enumerated above. " There is Leon !" cried my servant, 
a boy of fourteen, with all the pride of a patriotic Nica- 



Chap. V. LEON — GENERAL MUNOZ. 71 

raguan. But remembering that he was a native of 
Granada, his jealousy was roused, and he added : " Leon 
is larger, but Granada surpasses it in civilization !" 

I hastened to call on General Munoz, at that time the 
chief personage in Nicaragua, to whom I brought a letter 
of introduction. He received me in complete undress, 
throwing, however, in the moment of my entering the 
room, a little cape or diminutive cloak, outside yellow and 
inside blue, over his shoulders, in which he reminded me 
strongly of Leporello in the opera. The effect of the letter 
surpassed my expectations. The general assured me of 
his sincerest friendship, and, as far as my interest with him 
has gone, I have had no reason to doubt his sincerity. In 
another chapter I shall have to say more of this dis- 
tinguished individual, who has since perished in the civil 
wars of Central America, Another letter introduced me 
to Seilor Ramirez, then the President, or as the Nicaraguan 
title runs, the " Director Supremo " of the republic. 

Having made the acquaintance of these and other pro- 
minent men of the capital, I went lounging about to see 
the city. From the effects of long and desperate struggles, 
of which Leon has been the theatre during the civil wars 
of the country, the greater number of the houses were in 
ruins, and I have no reason to suppose that these have 
since diminished. Nevertheless, Leon is still one of the 
largest cities of Central America. At the time of my 
visit it was stated to have 30,000 inhabitants. This may 
be a gross exaggeration. But it is very difficult to form 
an opinion of the matter, as even from the roof of the 
cathedral the suburbs cannot be seen in their whole extent. 
The scattered houses of the outer parts hide themselves in 
a forest of trees and between thickets of shrubbery. The 



72 LEON — POPULATION. Book J . 

cathedral — a large and well-constructed stone building with 
a massive cupola and roof — is one of the most dis- 
tinguished works of architecture in Spanish America. The 
view from the roof is magnificent, and ranges over the.most 
beautiful scenes of this kind I have ever seen. Round 
a large area the red roofs of the houses are seen here 
and there peeping out between trees of the most luxuriant 
growth, while the plain beyond is occupied by an immense 
forest, occasionally broken by fields of maize more ex- 
tensively and carefully cultivated than I have seen elsewhere 
in Nicaragua. In a westerly and north-westerly direction 
the plain slopes gradually down to the coast of the Pacific, 
without any intervening hills. This is not the case towards 
the south, where the north-western termination of a range 
of hills running close to the sea-coast is seen. Towards 
the north and the east the whole line of volcanic cones 
enumerated above, from the Viejo to the Momotombo, 
rise in strange regularity of form so as to appear more 
like gigantic works of art than natural mountains. 

The population of the suburbs of Leon is mostly Indian ; 
that of Subtiaba, which is considered a suburb but is more 
a town by itself, is entirely so, and has even preserved its 
Indian language. In some respects my servant was right 
when he said that Granada was more civilized than Leon, 
as apparently the latter city has preserved more of the 
original Central American life than Granada, where the 
influence of foreigners and foreign mercantile connexions 
has been much greater. Granada, moreover, is chiefly a 
commercial town, and in its population the " bourgeois " 
character predominates ; while Leon represents the allied 
interests of a landed aristocracy and a very active and 
determined democracy. 



Chap. V. THE PKOLETAIKES OF LEON. 73 

While I passed through the streets, a young fellow, 
whom I may call a true type of this latter element, 
accosted me, requesting that I would allow him to light 
his cigar. " Your Grace," he said, after I had complied, 
"is a stranger, but a very polite gentleman. When I 
left the house of my father, he told me : My son, you must 
be polite towards the high as well as towards the low, and 
when a gentleman wants to light his cigar, you must be 
quick to serve him : in this my father w r as right. But I 
say that the gentleman should not be less polite than the 
common man of the people, and when I want fire for 
lighting my cigar he should show himself obliging in turn. 
Don't you think so, sir ?" 

One evening I took a sketch of a street of Saragosa, 
which is a suburb of Leon, and while thus occupied, a 
whole crowd of people gathered around me. Some gentle- 
men on horseback, accidentally passing, stopped their 
horses and looked at the operation with apparent dislike. 
" I have no patience to look on," said one of them ; 
" after the mapa is finished, I will inspect it." " Better to 
know how to make it than to inspect it," replied a man 
standing next to me. He seemed to be a military 
character, something like a veteran from the war of inde- 
pendence. After the gentlemen on horseback, disgusted, 
I suppose, by the pointed remark of the proletarian, had 
taken their departure, the latter turned to the crowd, 
" Look at this man," he said, in a patronising manner, 
" he comes from afar, takes his place here at this corner, 
and sketches our street with all its little houses and 
cocoa-nut trees, and makes a map of it. The first man 
who ever made a map of this country had come with 
many followers. But as they carried contraband goods, 



74 FRENCH COLONIZATION PROJECT. Book I. 

they were attacked, and five and twenty of them were 
killed, after which he conquered Realejo and then made 
the map." .... The reader does not expect me to 
explain the dark meaning of this speech, with which I was 
introduced to the good people of Saragosa. 

Amongst the more distinguished men whose acquaintance 
I made at Leon, was the military governor of the city, 
Colonel Don Francisco Diaz Zapata, who formerly had 
been prefect of the department of Nuevo Segovia. The 
colonel, I was informed, was a great musical composer, 
and one of his symphonies was executed at a public concert 
during my stay at Leon. At the colonel's house I saw a 
Frenchman, M. Meyonnet, who had entered into a contract 
with the Nicaraguan government for the establishment of a 
French colony on the Rio Cocos. On the maps which 
had appeared up to that time, this river has been laid 
down as being identical with the Bluefield river. From 
the information, however, which Colonel Zapata gave me, 
and which was corroborated by another gentleman of 
Leon well acquainted with those regions, it results that 
the river of New Segovia, or Ocotal, under the different 
names of Rio Cangrejal, Cocos, Segovia, Oro, Yare, 
Herbias, Wanks, and Cape River, runs to Cape Gracias a 
Dios, where it empties itself into the sea, while the Blue- 
field river, under the names of the Escondido and Boswas, 
has its source in Matagalpa and Upper Mosquitia or 
Chontales, and in this manner the latest maps have placed 
it. Of the French colonization project no farther notice 
has reached me. 

General Munoz introduced me to a distinguished citizen 
of Leon, the owner of extensive lands in the farthest north- 
eastern part of Matagalpa ; but having incurred the ill- 



Chap. V. EXTENSIVE GOLD EEGION. 75 

feelings of the Indians of that region, had been obliged to 
retire from it. This circumstance Don Nazario Escoto had 
just reason to lament, as he had to leave some rich gold 
mines behind ; while speaking of these mines, he went to 
an adjoining room and returned with a little basket full of 
gold bars from that locality, which seems to form part of 
an extensive gold region, reaching from the sources of the 
Bluefield river northward to the valleys of the Upper 
Patook or Guayape, in Honduras. In the chapter con- 
taining the narrative of my trip to Chontales and Upper 
Mosquitia I shall return to this subject 



76 MUD VOLCANOES OF SAN JAZINTO. Book L 



CHAPTER VI. 

Excursions in the Neighbourhood of Leon, and return to Granada — The 
Mud Volcanoes of San Jazinto and Tisate — The Volcano of Telica — Vil- 
lage of Telica — A Drama represented by the Inhabitants — Musical 
Instrument of pretended Indian Origin — Ascent of the Mountain — The 
Crater — View from the Summit — Kemarks concerning the Orthography of 
Nicaragua — Nindiri — Old Stream of Lava — Masaya. 

From Leon I made an excursion to the hervideros l or mud 
volcanoes of San Jazinto and Tisate, situated at the foot 
of one of the volcanic cones to the north of Leon. 2 

The plain, which extends from the city towards the 
mountains, is partly cultivated in extensive fields of maize, 
and partly overgrown with shrubs and trees. These, as I 
rode through the country at an early hour of the morning, 
were literally covered with thousands of pigeons, of a 
species called the ala blanca, i. e. the white wing. 

After a ride of eight or nine miles I came to the first of 
the two interesting localities just mentioned. The hervidero 
of San Jazinto is a kind of solfatara — a smooth, horizontal 
plain of considerable extent, in the bottom of which, formed 
of red, brown, yellow, green, blue, black, and white clay, 
are numerous holes filled with a thick red water in a boiling 
state, from which steam and various gases, principally sul- 
phuretted hydrogen and sulphurous acid escape ; while 
sublimations and incrustations of sulphur and various salts 



1 Hervidero means a boiler, from 
liervir, to boil. 

2 From an omission in my notes I 



am unable to give a more exact de- 
scription of the locality. 



Chap. VI. MUD VOLCANOES. 77 

are formed around them. The whole place is heated in 
different degrees at various spots. 

A few miles distant, on another side of the same mountain, 
is the hervidero de Tisate. This is a small crater filled with 
a thick mud, kept in violent commotion by the steam and 
gases that escape through the boiling paste. In large 
flakes and voluminous masses the stiff mud is thrown into 
the air, and, falling down at the edge, where it quickly 
dries from the heat prevailing throughout the locality, it 
forms a circular wall of clay of an ashy colour with portions 
of various other colours similar to the clay of San Jazinto. 
In the flakes which had just fallen down while I stood near, 
and were still hot and in a pasty state, I observed in- 
numerable bright little cubes of iron pyrites, which appear 
to be continually forming in this natural laboratory. Here- 
after this paste will consolidate into a rock, with these 
cubes interspersed throughout its substance. It is not 
without scientific interest to observe this instance of the 
formation of a rock produced by the combined agency of 
fire and water, — a class of rocks and' mineral productions 
generally neglected in the speculations of exclusive geo- 
logical schools, but to which some of the rocks now called 
plutonic may one day be referred. Here and there con- 
siderable efflorescences of a white salt were seen. That it 
was a salt of iron was manifested on the spot by a cha- 
racteristic reaction. My guide, seeing that I collected a 
portion of the salt, took the fresh bark from the branch of 
a tree and rubbed its inside with the salt, by which a deep 
black colour was instantly produced. " That's the way we 
make our ink here," added the man, as a commentary on 
his chemical demonstration. 

I spent the night in a house on the hacienda de San 
Jazinto. For the hospitality which I enjoyed at this 



78 VILLAGE OF TELICA. Book I. 

place I paid a full equivalent to the fleas of the house, 
though, to speak the truth, they were neither more nume- 
rous nor more bloodthirsty than I have found them in some 
of the huts of the herdsmen of the Alps. The men with 
whom I passed the night at San Jazinto were nothing 
better, but they were more polite and animated than most 
European peasants would have been. Before going to 
bed, the company, sitting in front of the door of the house, 
amused themselves by telling stories, the obligation to con- 
tribute by this means to the general entertainment of the 
company passing round the circle. I have observed the 
same pastime amongst the herdsmen and muleteers of 
Mexico. In the present case the stories were all of one 
stamp. An Indian has a pretty wife, whom the priest 
tries to seduce. But the Indian is too sharp for the priest, 
and the latter is caught in a trap. u Otro Indio " — ano- 
ther Indian ! — was the call inviting the next in the circle to 
come forward with his narrative. 

A few days later I set out from Leon to visit the 
volcano of Telica. The village of Telica, at the foot of 
the mountain, is six or seven miles from the city. There 
I went to pass the night, take a guide and start very early 
in the morning to ascend the summit of the mountain. I 
had a letter to the curate, in whose house I found the 
necessary accommodations. It happened that I had an 
opportunity of spending the evening in a very interesting 
and instructive manner at this village. Its inhabitants, 
who are Indians, though perfect ladinos, i. e. thoroughly 
romanised, represented what is called " un baile" a ball, 
meaning, however, a play with songs and dances, a per- 
formance uniting the requisites of the drama, the opera, 
and the ballet. The piece was called " El juramento ante 
Dios" the oath before God. Its fable was this : a Moorish 






Chap. VI. DRAMATIC REPRESENTATION. 79 

king and a Christian king are neighbours. After continued 
wars they make peace. The Christian had fallen into the 
hands of the Moor, but the latter is a noble, high-minded 
man, who becomes the friend of his captive enemy, and 
under a solemn oath a treaty of friendship and alliance is 
concluded between them* The Christian goes back to his 
kingdom. As soon, however, as he has arrived, he breaks 
his oath, treacherously attacks his neighbour and friend, 
and becomes his prisoner for the second time. Now the 
faithless neighbour it is expected will receive the punish- 
ment of his perjury. But here the moral of the piece 
comes to light. The Christian succeeds in converting the 
heathen by arguing that even virtue without true faith is 
worthless. The Moor is baptized, amidst universal re- 
joicings, and with a solemn chorus, " injinida gloria 
damos" which the old Indians executed in a masterly 
manner, the play ends. With the exception of the intro- 
duced part of a buffoon, the whole passes on and was 
performed in the most serious style. 

I am not well enough acquainted with Spanish literature 
to know whether this piece may not be the production of 
one of the more distinguished Spanish dramatists, changed 
so as to suit the intelligence of the Nicaraguan Indians. 
The metre was trochaical and the language noble and 
high-sounding, which, from the lips of Indian peasants, 
produced rather a comical effect, as in the case of the 
Christian king addressing his knights and lords as 

" Condes, duques y marqueses . 

The play was divided into several acts, marked by the 
performance of dances connected with the progress of the 
action. They were executed in a serious style by a slow 
movement of different figures to the music of a peculiar 



80 



MUSICAL INSTRUMENT — THE MAEIMBA. 



Book I. 



instrument called marimba. In its present structure, 
improved upon the old Indian design, this instrument is 
composed of twenty-five narrow steel plates of increasing 
length, laid side by side like the keys of a piano, and each 
of them resting on the open upper end of a wide vertical 
wooden tube. The length of these tubes increases in pro- 
portion to the length of the plates. Each tube, closed at 
its lower end, has a side opening which, being made wider 
or narrower by a piece of wax, regulates the pitch of the 
sound produced by the steel plate on being struck with a 
small hammer constructed for the purpose. The whole is 
kept together by a wooden frame, and rests on a stick 
which the musician, who is in a sitting posture, keeps 
between his knees 5 while a strap, fixed on the frame, 
passes round his shoulders. To produce the music, he 
holds a little stick of elastic wood in each hand, and with 
them strikes the steel plates. For this purpose one of the 
sticks has one, the other two, leather buttons at its end, 
one of them thus forming a single, the other a double 
hammer. The two buttons of the latter are placed at such 
a distance that two keys can be touched at once. In the 
original Indian x construction of the instrument the keys 
are made of wood instead of steel, and calabash shells 



1 Since the above was written I have 
read the following passage in Living- 
stone's ' Travels in Africa,' from winch 
it appears that the marimba is of 
African origin, though in Nicaragua it 
was called an old Indian instrument. 
The passage, from the xvi th chapter of 
Livingstone, is as follows : — " The 
piano, named marimba, consists of two 
bars of wood placed side by side ; here 
quite straight, but farther north, bent 
round, so as to resemble half the tire of 
a carriage -wheel ; across these are 
placed about fifteen wooden keys, each 
of which is two or three inches broad, 
and fifteen or eighteen inches long; 



their thickness is regulated according 
to the deepness of the note required : 
each of the keys has a calabash beneath 
it ; from the upper part of each a por- 
tion is cut off to enable them to embrace 
the bars, and form hollow sounding- 
boards to the keys, which also are of 
different sizes, according to the note 
required; and little drumsticks elicit 
the music. Rapidity of execution seems 
much admired among them, and the 
music is pleasant to the ear. In Angola 
the Portuguese use the marimba in 
their dances."— Dr. Livingstone gives 
a drawing of the instrument as used 
amongst the Baton-da. 



I 



Chap. VI. ASCENT OF THE MOUNTAIN. 81 

of different sizes are made use of instead of the wooden 
tubes. 

When, after the dramatic performance was over, the 
marimba-player observed the interest I took in his instru- 
ment, he felt induced to show himself as a virtuoso. With 
not less coquetry than could be exhibited by one of our 
lionised originals on the piano, he produced & fantasia on 
the marimba. By degrees his genius carried him away, 
till at last he fell into a kind of musical frenzy. His little 
sticks of elastic wood with their little buttons of leather 
moved quicker than the eye could follow. They flew 
from the left hand over the right and from the right over 
the left, Sometimes he would dwell upon an idea so as to 
give the hearer time to digest it, when suddenly a change 
came over the spirit of his dream, and following the 
impulse of a new conception, he rushed on to some 
unknown region of harmony. In this manner he continued, 
until, by a present which I made him, he was convinced of 
my satisfaction. 

The curate told me that a much more interesting 
baile, called " La Conquista de America" was sometimes 
performed, in which Hernan Cortez and Montezuma ap- 
peared on the stage. 

After the entertainments of the evening I suddenly felt 
very ill during the night, and for a short time I thought 
it impossible to prosecute my intention of ascending the 
mountain. Nevertheless when, at three o'clock in the 
morning, the guide came with the horses, I decided to 
make the attempt. 

The path soon led into the woods, and by the light of 
the moon we followed it through the thicket. At several 
places it was very difficult to penetrate. A kind of weed, 
reaching above the saddle and covered with rough spiny 

G 



82 ASCENT OF THE MOUNTAIN. Book I. 

burrs, which grappled over horse and rider, formed a most 
annoying obstacle from below, while, above, the ropes of 
climbers and twiners hanging from tree to tree across the 
way, threatened the traveller with the fate of Absalom. 
From time to time, while thus toiling along in the dim 
light of the moon shining through some open spaces of the 
forest, I was seized with violent vomiting. During one of 
these attacks, having alighted from my horse and resting 
my head upon a low branch, the latter gave way and I 
fell into the bushes. At the same moment a large body 
leaped from the thicket, bending and breaking the branches 
where it fell, and passed on, till the cracking noise became 
lost in the distance. I asked my guide what it was. " Un 
tigre," a tiger, answered the man, this being the name by 
which the jaguar is designated in this part of Spanish 
America. This is the solitary instance in which I have 
come in contact with one of these animals during my 
travels in Central America. It strikes me as an interest- 
ing fact in natural history that the temper of the same 
species of animals is different in different regions. The 
jaguar exists in Nicaragua in individuals of monstrous size, 
though as I believe, it does not occur very frequently. 
Here, however, it is not at all looked upon as the dangerous 
and ferocious animal it seems to be considered in other 
South American countries, as I have read in reference to 
Paraguay and the Pampas of the Rio de la Plata. 

By-and-bye the path became steeper and rougher. With 
the first light of day I had reached the end of the forest 
which surrounds the lower part of the mountain. Here 
savanas began. Where the old grass had been burned they 
had the appearance of fields of young wheat. Various shrubs 
and trees, some of them without leaves, but covered with 
splendid flowers, were distributed in groups over the moun- 



Chap. VI. ASCENT OF THE MOUNTAIN. 83 

tain prairie, so as to give to the whole scene the app arance 
of a park of the grandest dimensions and the boldest design. 
A little valley, not very distant from the summit, but still 
surrounded by higher portions of the mountain, was a par- 
ticularly charming spot. The bottom, watered by a spring, 
was occupied by a group of shrubs with pink and yellow 
blossoms, while rich festoons of large bell-shaped flowers of 
a lilac colour hung down from a cluster of trees in the 
midst of it. Here and there in the savana stood a few 
coyol palms, from which a kind of wine, called chicha 
coyol, is made in the country. The whole scenery, the 
pure mountain air, and the freshness of the morning, toge- 
ther with the aspect of a spotless sky of saturated blue, 
produced a feeling of enjoyment which made me forget the 
weakness produced by the sickness of the night. 

At the last trees we left -our horses, the remaining por- 
tion of the mountain being too steep and rough for them. 
In this upper region its sides are covered with fragments 
and detached masses of scoriae, which cannot be considered 
as portions of a stream of lava, but must have been thrown 
up from the crater into the air in portions of a semi-fluid 
melted matter, which, when falling down in the condition 
of a stiff paste, formed those flat cakes now seen lying 
loosely on the ground ; or, in the case of larger masses 
that took more time in cooling, rolled or glided down for a 
short distance on the steep mountain side, producing bulky 
lumps of a cylindrical shape or irregular forms and of a 
spongy texture, with large cavities or oven-shaped vaults 
in them. These detached masses of scoriae are half over- 
grown by grass several feet high, concealing their points 
and edges and the interstices between them, so that it is 
impossible to avoid hurting the feet, and advancing on- 
wards, if not with great caution, is. even dangerous. 

g 2 



84 SUMMIT OF THE MOUNTAIN. Book I. 

The view from the summit is very grand, and, though 
of quite a different character, may well be compared with 
that from the top of Mount Righi. In the vicinity are the 
summits of the other cones of the Maribios, from the Mo- 
motombo to the Viejo. Behind the former a portion of 
the Lake of Managua appears. The country farther to 
the east was lost in the indistinct colour of distance. To 
the west the eye found no horizon to rest upon — no line of 
demarcation between the Pacific ocean and the atmosphere 
being discernible. It was a view into empty space. The 
line of the sea-coast, however, was well defined in this direc- 
tion. The eye could follow its course as far as the plain 
of Leon is not separated from the sea by intervening hills. 
Several small rivers, emptying themselves into the ocean, 
and bright little bays are seen shining between dark- 
wooded headlands. Along the northern side of the pano- 
rama runs the mountain chain, or rather terrace, of 
Matagalpa and New Segovia, separating the low-lands of 
Nicaragua from the table-lands to the north and north- 
east. Along the line of its foot, in the plain of the Estero 
Real — that long, narrow branch of the Gulf of Fonseca 
which extends in a south-easterly direction towards the 
north-western corner of the Lake of Managua — a number 
of diminutive cones are seen, leaving the impression of a 
row of mole-hills. The country around the south-western 
base of the mountain appears as one single forest, inter- 
rupted by nothing but a few bright spots where some 
streamlet expands sufficiently to produce a reflection of 
light from its surface. A few red specks marked the tile- 
roofs of Leon. 

Though the summit of the mountain is now bare of * 
trees, there is no doubt that in a former time pines have 
grown on it. The forest of the lower region, with the 



Chap. VI. 



THE CRATER. 



85 



exception of a few palm-trees, is entirely composed of 
exogens. As far as I have been informed, coniferous trees 
are not found in the interior section of Nicaragua, while in 
Mosquitia, Honduras, and Yucatan pines grow from the 
table-lands down to the sea-shore. A few hundred feet 
below the summit I saw a young pine — the only specimen 
I could discover on the mountain. But an old stump of a 
tree of this class, and of considerable size, stood at the 
brink of the crater. To this stump a rope, which we had 
brought for the purpose, was fastened, and by it I climbed 
down the perpendicular wall which, in a circle, forms the 
upper part of the crater. At the place where I descended 
it may have had an elevation of forty or fifty feet. It is 
the place where the edge of the crater is lowest, and where 
the slope in the interior comes highest up — while, on the 
opposite side, the wall rises many hundred feet in perpendi- 
cular elevation from the centre of the one-sided funnel, a 
vertical cut of the crater representing this figure : — - 




At the *foot of the wall I began to descend the slope 
towards the centre. It is very steep, but not without vege- 
tation, consisting of some tufts of grass, some weeds, and a 
few shrubs. Amongst the latter there was one kind of 



86 THE CRATEE. Book I. 

the dimensions of a common whortle-berry shrub, with 
clusters of white bell-shaped flowers. I descended on a 
ground formed by a loose agglomeration of tuffaceous or 
clayey parts, lapilli, scoria?, and fragments of rocks, with 
efflorescences of various salts, and loose crystals of sul- 
phur scattered about over the surface, in such a manner 
as to admit of no other opinion but that they must have 
fallen down from an ascending column of hot steam and 
gases, by which they were either carried up already 
formed, or in which they were formed during its passage 
from the interior of the mountain into the atmosphere. 
Several of these crystals were even lying on the grass. 
Amongst the rocks scattered about, or half imbedded in 
the tuff, I saw some large fragments of white crystalline 
marble, and others of an augitic rock of great hardness 
and tenacity. The remaining fragments were of the same 
nature as the loose masses of scoriae covering the outer 
sides of the summit. The vertical wall, on the opposite 
side of the crater, shows strata of different colour, indicat- 
ing the various nature of the matter ejected during suc- 
cessive eruptions of the mountain : for I have little doubt 
that the cone has been formed by the accumulated material 
fallen down after having been ejected into the air from the 
crater. 

I regret that these few remarks comprise all the informa- 
tion I am able to give in reference to the crater of the volcano 
of Telica. The state of my health continued to be very 
weak. I descended the slope towards the centre of the 
funnel for a few hundred steps, when suddenly my feet broke 
through the hard crust of the clayey soil and enffered into a 
hot mud from which sulphurous vapours rose. I had just 
time and strength left to fall back on the ground, and to 
crawl up a few steps, where I remained for some minutes 



Chap. VI. OROGRAPHY OF NICARAGUA. 87 

in an exhausted state, produced, no doubt, by the inhala- 
tion of the gases which emanated from the bottom. The 
guide, who had descended after me, was nowhere to be 
seen, nor did he answer my repeated calls. With the 
utmost exertion I succeeded in reaching the foot of the 
wall where the rope hung down from the old stump, and 
when I looked up I despaired of ever emerging from the 
crater again. After a while, however, I resumed con- 
fidence. The guide, who had been collecting sulphur, 
reappeared. We reascended by the rope, and in the pure 
atmosphere beyond the crater I soon acquired new strength. 
At the edge of the woods we found our horses. By four 
o'clock in the afternoon we were again in the village, and 
before night I had returned to Leon. 

The main features of the orography of Nicaragua have 
been well established by Mr. Squier's map of the country. 
On the maps that existed before the publication of his work, 
the volcanoes of the plain of Leon, for which he has re- 
claimed the old Indian denomination of the Maribios, 1 were 
represented as being in connexion with the mountains 
of New Segovia on one side, and with the Nicaraguan 
coast range of hills on the other. This was a double error. 

Three lines of mountains or hills, parallel to each other 
and to the coast of the Pacific, pass through Nicaragua, 
and they are not connected by transverse yokes, which do 
not exist. 

From the narrows and rapids of the San Juan river, 
which, at that place, passes through an interruption in the 
chain, the main ridge of the country takes the general 
north-westerly course as far as the department of Choluteca, 



1 Being the name of a tribe of- I tain region, which, as a district, . was 
Indians formerly inhabiting this moun- ( called MaribieJioa. 



88 VOLCANIC CONES AND HILLS. Book I. 

in Honduras. All this way it leaves the low region of the 
Nicaraguan lakes, and of the gulf of Fonseca to the south- 
west, and the table-land of Upper Mosquitia, Matagalpa, 
and New Segovia to the north-east. This ridge, strictly 
speaking, is more the edge of a table-land than a central 
chain of mountains, though the table-land, of course, has a 
decided slope to the east and north-east. 

A second range of hills runs along the coast. It has 
occasional depressions, and at several places is entirely in- 
terrupted. The first depression is between the Bio Sapoa 
and the bay of Salinas, the second between Virgin Bay and 
San Juan del Sur, the third between the lake of Managua, 
near Nagarote, and the little bay of Tamarinda. South 
of Leon it is interrupted by the little river which, from 
the plain around the capital, passes to the sea-coast ; and 
around the port of Bealejo the broad plain of the interior 
is entirely open towards the Pacific. North-west of Bealejo, 
however, the hills of the coast begin again, the range be- 
coming higher and higher, till, at the entrance of the gulf 
of Fonseca, it terminates abruptly with the famous volcano 
of Coseguina. 

Between these two lines of elevations there is a third 
one, consisting of a series of isolated volcanic cones and 
hills. Beginning in the south-east, the first of these de- 
tached elevations is the island Solentenami, in the lake of 
Nicaragua. Then come the two cones of the island of 
Ometepe, the island of Zapotera, the Mombacho, the 
volcano of Masaya, the hills of the peninsula between 
Managua and Mateares, the island Momotombito in the 
lake of Managua, the Momotombo, which, I think, is the 
highest peak among the chain of the Maribios, and the 
highest mountain in Nicaragua, reaching an altitude of 
7000 feet, the Axosco, the Pilas, the Orota, the Telica, 



Chap. VI. NINDIRI. 89 

the Santa Clara, the Viejo, and some smaller cones of this 
chain ; and the islands of Tigre and Sacate Grande, in the 
gulf of Fonseca, may be considered as a north-westerly 
continuation of the series. 

Between these three lines of elevations the traveller can 
pass on a level road from the Ail antic to the Pacific ; and, 
in the direction to the latter, this may be done by two 
principal routes, — one on the south-western side of the 
Maribios, from Leon to Bealejo ; the other on the north- 
eastern side of that chain, from the northern corner of the 
lake of Managua through the plain of the Eio de Palma 
and the Estero Real to the gulf of Fonseca. 

On the 31st of January I left Leon on my return to 
Granada. From Managua I took the regular road to 
Nindiri and Masaya. The first of these two places is a 
large Indian village, representing one of the most charm- 
ing scenes I have ever seen. Its little thatched huts are 
built with great regularity in rectangular streets, with plan- 
tain gardens behind them. Most of them are situated in 
the shade of orange, mango, and other fruit-trees, and half 
concealed by groups of the most exquisite ornamental 
flowers, while the tallest cocoa-palms gently waft their 
crowns above them. Brown girls with smiling faces stood 
in the doorways, greeting the passing traveller in a friendly 
tone w T ith their "goodooawee, Americano!" — -good-bye, 
American ! 

In the neighbourhood of Nindiri the road crosses an old 
stream of lava ejected from the crater of the volcano of 
Masaya. From the summit of the mountain it has de- 
scended into the plain, where it was arrested by the hori- 
zontally of the surface, and the progress of cooling. It is 
an awful sight, looking as if a broad stream of melted iron, 
raised in wild commotion like the sea in a storm, had 



90 OLD STREAM OF LAVA. Book I. 

suddenly concreted. It is narrow above and widening 
below, bordered all around with the trees of the forest, the 
contrast producing an effect not less striking than that of 
the trees growing on the side of a glacier, The points and 
edges of this mass of lava are so formidable, that the idea 
of making an excursion on it is given up with great damage 
to the shoes after the first experiment of a few steps. 
Some strange hollow cylinders or tubes, somewhat similar 
in appearance to huge hollow trunks of trees burnt to 
charcoal, but formed of the lava, have arrested the atten- 
tion of travellers, some of whom have conjectured that 
these masses were really produced by the lava surrounding 
trees. I have spoken of similar formations occurring on the 
sides of the volcano of Telica, and it is my opinion that 
they have been caused by portions of half-cooled lava rolled 
along on the surface of the stream, as in the case of Nindiri, 
or on the ground as in the case of Telica, while a develop- 
ment of gas was going on in their interior ; a process by 
which cylindrical balloons, opened afterwards in one way or 
the other, may have been formed, though by this explana- 
tion I do not pretend to deny the possibility of these tubes 
being casts formed round the trunks of trees, only the fact 
that hollow masses of lava exist in many other forms at the 
same localities has made me doubt it. 1 

I spent a night at Masaya, a considerable town with a 
very active Indian population in its suburbs. More luxu- 
riant plantain gardens, and finer fruit trees cannot be seen. 
All the fences are living hedges of piiiuela or wild pine- 
apple. On the market place, early in the morning, many 
interesting and highly creditable articles of Indian skill 



1 An eruption of the Volcano of Masaya has taken place since the time when I 
was in Nicaragua. 



Chap. VI. MASAYA. 91 

and industry are offered for sale ; fine hammocks, mats made 
of reeds with tasteful designs in different colours worked into 
them, and some of them large enough to cover the whole 
floor of a room in one piece, — jicaras and guacales (cups 
and basins made of calabashes) ornamented with reliefs, — 
earthenware, saddlery, and various other objects. For 
their skill, taste, and application, the Indians of Masaya 
are in high reputation throughout Nicaragua. 



92 -. ] j OMETEPE AND ISTHMUS OF RIVAS. Book I. 



CHAPTEE VII. 

A Visit to the Island of Ometepe and the Isthmus of Rivas — Indian Anti- 
pathies — Violent Attack of Fever — Muyogalpa — Cutaneous Diseases — 
The Two Peaks — .Meteorological Phenomena — Return to the Main Land 
— Gothic Blood — Rivas — Slope to the Pacific — Brito — A Jicaral — 
La Concordia — A Californian Vessel in search of an Imaginary Town — 
San Juan del Sur — Nagascolo — The Transit Road — Slow Combustion of 
Wood — Wasps and their Sense of Hearing — Virgin Bay — Rio de 
las Lajas — Political Characters : Laureano Pmeda and Fruto Chamorro. 

In the latter part of February I visited the Island of 
Ometepe and the Isthmus of Rivas, or Nicaragua Proper. 
The population of the island is almost exclusively Indian, 
and, as already stated, of the Aztec race. Few white men 
have ever lived amongst them, and the Indian blood seems 
to have remained unmixed in this locality. With the 
purity of the race and the greater isolation of the inhabi- 
tants, a more obstinate antipathy against Europeans and 
their descendants than is to be found with the other Indians 
of Nicaragua, has descended to the present age, and only 
a very short time has elapsed since the secret practice of 
idolatry was proved to exist on the island. A German, named 
Woeniger, had settled there and established a cotton plan- 
tation. One day, returning after a short absence, he found 
his family murdered and his house burned down. I met 
the man on the Isthmus of Eivas, where he was employed 
by the Canal Company as superintendent of the transit 
road. In this capacity he had several hundred Indians 
under his directions, whom he treated in such a haughty and 
repulsive manner that I was not at all astonished to hear, 



Chap. VII. INDIAN ANTIPATHIES. 93 

some years later, that they had murdered him also. After 
Woeniger, and for a while together with him, another 
German, named Campe, lived on the island. I saw him 
often at Granada, where he had retired with his family. 
He spoke favourably of the character of the Indians of 
Ometepe, though he said that it was always advisable to 
be cautious with them. As for himself, although he 
possessed a property on the island, and had acquired consi- 
derable influence with the population, he did not like to live 
there. 

I found a passage in one of the canoes in which the 
islanders bring their oranges, water-melons, cocoa-nuts and 
other fruits to Granada. Campe had promised, through 
one of his friends amongst them, to make an agreement for 
me, and on the 12th of February he came to inform me 
that the owner of one of these canoes had agreed to take 
me over for six reales. In half an hour I was ready. To 
carry some baggage and the arms I always wore on my 
rambles in Nicaragua down to the landing-place, I went 
there on horseback. But when I found the Indian stretched 
on the sand of the beach near his canoe, he asked six 
dollars instead of six reales for my passage. This was 
eight times the amount agreed upon. My remonstrances, 
however, were of no avail, and when I became angry the 
man turned on his heel without taking any further notice 
of my presence. In the mean time Campe arrived, to 
whom I applied, requesting him to settle the difficulty ; 
but though he tried to bring the Indian to reason, it was 
to no effect " That man" — the Indian told him, speaking 
of me — •" is riding about on his horse, armed with gun and 
pistols, and with an appearance as if he held command 
here. Such people we don't like on our island, and I shall 
not take him over for any sum he may be willing to pay." 



94 THE ISLETAS — INDIAN GKATITUDE. Book L 

Alongside the canoe of this obstinate fellow lay the most 
pitiable nutshell in which a man could dream of navigating 
a rough water, such as the lake of Nicaragua, during the 
season of the trade-wind — a hollow tree, just large enough 
to carry two or three persons with a few dozens of water- 
melons, cocoa-nuts, or other fruits. It was occupied by 
an old man and a young boy. When I asked the former 
whether he was willing to take me to the island he made 
all kinds of objections, but ultimately consented, and, not 
to give him time to repent, I took immediate possession of 
his craft. 

It was late in the afternoon when we left the playa of 
Granada, and our course, as far as the point of the isletas, 
being straight in the face of the wind, the old Indian and his 
grandson had to work hard at the oars to reach that locality 
before night. Here we spent some hours, till the moon 
had risen and the wind calmed a little. From that point 
onwards our course was a south-easterly one, so that the 
use of a sail became possible. The lake was very rough, 
and when, a little before noon on the next day, we arrived 
at the island, I had been in a continual bath for five or six 
hours, and felt so cold from the wind to which I had been 
exposed all the time, that I ordered the Indian to put me 
on shore at the first human habitation. When I paid him 
the dollar agreed upon for my passage, and wanted to add 
some reales as a token of my satisfaction, he refused to 
accept the additional sum. I then presented it to the boy, 
upon which the old man clasped me in his arms with 
gratitude. 

I was well received by the inhabitants of a hut which, 
concealed between trees and shrubs, was situated a few 
hundred steps from the water. Here I dried my clothes, 
while some chocolate, cultivated on the spot, was prepared 



Chap. VII. VIOLENT ATTACK OF FEVER. 95 

for me, and after a dinner of wild pigeons, which I shot 
from the next tree, I felt quite comfortable. Soon, how- 
ever, an extraordinary sleepiness came over me, and when 
I awoke towards the evening I was shivering from an attack 
of fever, which became very violent during the night. 
The hut had only one room, occupied by several women, 
one of whom had the fever likewise ; and no accommodations 
remaining for me within, I had to pass the night on a 
wooden bench in the open air, and for several hours re- 
mained in a delirious state. In the morning I took six 
grains of quinine, after which I had no return of the attack, 
but my strength was broken to such a degree that I felt 
compelled to abandon my original intention of ascending 
the summit of the peak of Ometepe. 

The wind had been exceedingly high during the night, 
and large branches of trees were broken down by it around 
the house. The sky at the same time was cloudless, and 
the moon and stars shone in all their brilliancy. This 
strange contrast is a main feature in the climate of Nica- 
ragua during the dry season. I took a walk on the beach 
in the morning. It was strewed with three different 
species of bivalve shells ejected by the waves during the 
night. At one place the lake was so full of fish that a boy 
in a single throw of his net caught enough for the dinner 
of the whole family. The fishes belonged to the two 
species called Mojarra and Guapote, which are always to 
be bought in the market of Granada. I sent these two 
and four other species of fishes from the lake of Nicaragua 
to my friend Professor Agassiz, and they all proved to 
be hitherto undescribed, representing six new species and 
two new genera. 

The island has two villages and a number of scattered 
habitations like that which afforded me, I cannot say a 



96 MUYOGALPA — CUTANEOUS DISEASES. Book I. 

shelter, but at least the good-will and services of its inmates 
and the comforts of the wooden bench before its door; 
advantages not at all to be despised under the circum- 
stances. Cacao and the different fruits of the country are 
the chief productions of the island, the greater part of 
which, however, is a wilderness of forests interrupted by 
savanas and tracts of park-like country. It abounds in 
all sorts of game, — as deer, different kinds of fowl of the 
family of the curassows common throughout Nicaragua, 
monkeys, panthers, &c. 

I went to the village of Muyogalpa. The name, in 
the Aztec language, means Mosquito Town, from moyotl, 
mosquito, and calpa, a group of houses. The road led 
through the bush and over patches of savanas, where some 
half-starved horses and cows were straggling about to find 
nourishment between the parched grass. During the wet 
season when the savanas are covered with a fresh vege- 
tation, these animals are better provided. Some of the 
trees and bushes were covered with beautiful flowers. 
The habitations of the village are built either of canes or 
of mud, thatched with straw or palm leaves. Some of 
them stand in a group on the shore of the lake, where the 
situation of the village is marked by some very tall cocoa- 
palms. The rest of the huts are scattered in the bush. 

In the family of one of the principal men of the village, 
I saw a boy of four years, with large horny excrescences on 
various parts of the body. They were of a conical form, and 
looked very much as if the top of a cow's horn had been 
sawed off and planted on the skin. As one of these, de- 
formities was placed on his forehead, he looked exactly as if 
the real horn of an animal was growing there. He had 
another growing on the chin, a third, of smaller dimensions 
but very pointed, on the under lip, and several others were 



OHAP.Vn. CUTANEOUS DISEASES — THE TWO PEAKS. 97 

seen on his lower extremities. With the exception of these 
monstrous formations, the skin of the boy was very clean and 
smooth. He was, however, squint-eyed in an unusual de- 
gree, and his sister, a little girl one or two years older, had 
the same deformity, but no cutaneous excrescences. The 
parents of these children, undoubtedly of pure Indian race, 
were of fine and healthy appearance. Other persons in 
the village, however, had the marks of cutaneous diseases. 

Cutaneous excrescences, like those just described, I saw 
at Granada. A young woman had them on the joints of her 
fingers. She applied to Dr. B. to have the horns cut 
off, and I was present when he tried to perform the opera- 
tion. Near the point the substance was without sensation, 
but as the doctor attempted to cut deeper and blood-vessels 
appeared, the patient declared that she could not bear the 
pain, and the attempt was abandoned. 

As far as I had an opportunity of examining the rocks 
of the island, they are formed of basaltic lava, like that of 
the isletas, which, as I have remarked, must have been 
produced by an eruption of the Mombacho. In the same 
manner the lava of Ometepe, together with the whole ma- 
terial of the island, must have been the production of the 
two craters by which the two cones of the island have been 
formed. In the beginning two separate islands must have 
existed here, till they were connected by the increasing 
mass and extent of the ejected matter, or were soldered 
together by a stream of lava. There is little land fit for 
cultivation. In most places the shores are steep and 
rocky, with no flats between them and the mountain sides. 
The soil capable of cultivation is formed by volcanic tuff, 
like that around Granada. Where this formation Borders 
on the lake, steep embankments and deep ravines are 
produced, some of the latter very similar to the fissures 

H 



98 METEOROLOGICAL PHENOMENA. Book I. 

existing near that city, and which have been described 
in a former chapter. 

One of the two peaks of the island bears the name of 
Ometepe, which, in this application, may be called absurd, 
as a term meaning "two mountains" cannot be justly 
applied to designate one of them. The other is called the 
peak of Madera. According to Baron Billow, the former 
has an altitude of 5100, the latter of 4190 feet. The 
former can be ascended without difficulty. Its lower 
region is covered with forests, the higher with savanas, and 
in general its sides appear to be of a nature very closely 
resembling those of the Telica. The peak of Madera is 
thickly wooded from the waters edge to the summit. 
There may be considerable difficulties in penetrating 
through the forest, which, as I imagine, conceals some 
objects of Indian antiquity. 

During the dry season, while for months a spotless sky 
is spread over Nicaragua, a thick cloud covers the top of 
the peak of Ometepe, and, if examined on the spot, may be 
observed to be in a constant process of originating on the 
north-eastern side of the summit, to roll over it in a direction 
to the south-west, where it is in an equally constant process 
of dissolving. The north-eastern trade wind, striking against 
the side of the mountain, is forced to cross the apex, and 
passing thus from a warmer into a colder region of the 
atmosphere, is obliged to part with a portion of the water 
it held in dissolution. Thus the cloud is produced on the 
windward side of the summit. On the lee side, the reverse 
takes place. The wind descends from the colder to the 
warmer region, where the cloud is dissolved, not, however, 
before a part of its water has collected in heavy rain-drops 
which I have observed to fall, even at the northern foot of 
the mountain, from a thin and almost transparent veil 



Chap. VII. GOTHIC BLOOD. 99 

surrounding the cone. I have already mentioned this 
kind of local precipitation in reference to the summit of 
the Mombacho. During the five days of my sojourn, I 
never saw the summit uncovered for a single moment. 
Another observation I made during this time was that of 
the regular gusts of wind which poured down the side of 
the mountain every evening. As to the peak of Madera, 
I cannot tell whether it exhibits the same phenomena in 
an equally regular manner. From a distance, however, I 
have seen it capped with a similar cloud, and this is occa- 
sionally the case with the summit of mount Mombacho. 

I found considerable difficulty in engaging a canoe to bring 
me to San Jorge, an Indian village on the neighbouring 
main, which may be called the port of Eivas. At that 
time of the year it was very easy to go there, and the 
transit could be made in little more than an hour ; but this 
rendered it the more difficult to return, and canoes from 
the island have often to wait many days at San Jorge 
before a temporary subsidence of the trade-wind will allow 
them to effect a home-passage. 

I brought a letter to a man of distinction amongst the 
inhabitants of the village. His features, though intelligent 
in expression, bespoke the Indian with a mixture of negro 
blood in his lineage. His wife, on the contrary, was a tall 
ladylike woman of very fine appearance and noble de- 
meanour, and altogether so superior to everything around 
her that she seemed to be a stranger mingled with the 
vulgar denizens of the place. The truth was that she be- 
longed to a family of pure Spanish, and perhaps I might 
say of Gothic, descent. The last remnants of this element, 
if any such be left even now, will soon be lost in the pro- 
gressing mixture of races in Central America. 

The road from San Jorge to Eivas leads through the 

h 2 



100 EIVAS. Book I. 

very garden of Nicaragua. Plantations of cacao, fields of 
maize, orchards loaded with every description of fruit, 
form a wall of the most luxuriant vegetation on either 
side, so that the view is entirely restricted to the closest 
objects, with the exception only of the two cones of Ome- 
tepe^ rising majestically into the air. The whole region is 
of unsurpassed fertility, and it is impossible to calculate 
what it might produce if cultivated with care and intelli- 
gence. Cacao, however, is the principal production of this 
section of Nicaragua. The view from the hills to the west 
of the town is rich beyond description. From their foot, 
the plain, entirely covered with verdure, slopes gently 
down to the lake. 

Rivas itself was more than half in ruins, and a more 
dreary sight than these crumbling walls could scarcely be 
looked upon, bearing as they did the double marks of 
destruction by earthquake and by a most sanguinary civil 
war. Rivas had suffered the horrors of both within a short 
interval of time. At the period of my visit the hopes 
and expectations excited by the canal project had pro- 
duced a spirit of activity and enterprise which, had the 
scheme been carried on, would soon have replaced these 
ruins by new buildings. Everywhere I saw hands em- 
ployed in tearing down old walls, in manufacturing sun- 
dried bricks, in cutting timber, and in other occupations 
connected with the building of houses. The impulse 
given to the whole country by the prospects of a brighter 
future, of course, was more strongly felt at Rivas, a town 
situated almost upon the line which, it was generally sup- 
posed, the inter-oceanic canal would follow. It is generally 
known how these expectations have been deceived. The 
disappointment was followed by renewed civil wars and by 
the ravages of the cholera, so that, if the condition of Rivas 



Chap. VII. SLOPE TO THE PACIFIC. 101 

has changed since the time of my visit, it can only have 
been for the worse. 

From what seemed to have transpired as the result of 
a preliminary survey, it was stated by persons in connexion 
with the engineers then at work on the isthmus of Rivas, 
that the canal would follow the line of deepest depression 
between the mouth of the Rio de las Lajas, on the lake of 
Nicaragua, and a place called Brito, on the coast of the 
Pacific. As I wished to form a general idea of the nature 
of that section of the country, I took a horse and guide 
and set out in the direction of the designated locality. 

I do not pretend to give an opinion in reference to the 
great object contemplated in the survey which was in 
progress of execution at that time. An official report of 
this survey has since been printed, and to this authentic 
document I must refer the reader for reliable information 
on the matter. According to my impression, the principal 
difficulty here, as on any other of the different lines that 
have been proposed within the territory of Nicaragua, 
must consist in the insufficiency of the quantity of water 
which may be required for feeding a canal deep and wide 
enough for all the vessels which would avail themselves of 
the advantage of this passage between the two oceans. 
For even if a cut was made through the isthmus between 
the lake of Nicaragua and the Pacific Ocean deep enough 
to supply the canal from the lake, the question still re- 
mains to be decided, whether the additional drainage thus 
produced would not lower the surface of the lake at a rate 
which would render the plan impracticable. This con- 
sideration I know does not contain an absolute impossibility, 
in as far as the quantity of water leaving the lake by the 
San Juan river might, under certain circumstances, be 
regulated in such a manner as to reduce the drainage in 



102 COUNTRY BETWEEN RIYAS AND BRITO. . Book I. 

both directions to the amount it has now in one. But in 
reference to any line that might be recommended between 
the lake of Managua and the Pacific Ocean, the above 
consideration, if I am not greatly mistaken, actually 
embraces an impossibility. From the statements in the 
fifth chapter, it results that the lake of Managua at the 
present time has no outlet whatever, or at least none 
during the dry season. Under these conditions that lake, 
in the most favourable case^ has a stationary level ; and 
as a double drainage would be necessary to connect it with 
the lower lake on one side, and with the Pacific Ocean on 
the other, there can be no doubt that a rapid decrease of 
level would be the result of its being included in the canal 
line. 

The country between Rivas and Brito is hilly, and in 
general must be very healthy. The whole tract from 
hence to the north-west, including the country around 
Jinotepet, and farther on, is in this, as in many other 
respects, highly fitted for the settlement of immigrants, if 
ever the stream of European emigration should be directed 
to Nicaragua. Here, while inhabiting a fertile, a healthy, 
and a most lovely country, they would have the inestimable 
advantage of a situation on the Pacific and on the Atlantic 
coast of the continent at once, a distance of a few miles 
being all that would separate the settler from the lake on 
one side, and from the ocean on the other. 

Leaving Rivas, the road, passing between plantations 
and gardens in the most charming situations, gradually 
ascends a range of hills ; when the summit is reached, the 
country forms a kind of table-land, with savanas, interrupted 
by bushes and clusters of trees. The coyol, or wine-palm, 
is growing scattered here and there over these prairies. 
Farther on towards the Pacific the road enters a forest, 



Chap. VII. LA SALINA — BRITO. 103 

the trees of which become taller and of a more vigorous 
growth as the traveller approaches the ocean. In this 
forest I came to a rivulet of the clearest water, running 
over a bed of sand and pebbles, and full of little fishes and 
delicate univalve shells ; and here I hit upon the signals 
of the surveying engineers of the canal company. Emerging 
from the forest I came to a place called La Salina, being 
a salt-marsh surrounded by a growth of shrubs of a very 
peculiar character. Some Indians were here to fetch a 
mule's load of salt, which at the dry portions thinly 
covered the ground. Where the bottom was not dry it 
formed a deep mud of a stiff clayey consistence, and ap- 
peared to be impassable. 

Where the ocean opened to the view, the coast swept 
in a long, smooth bend from north-west to south-east. As 
far as I could see, there was nothing but a beach of one or 
two hundred paces between the water and the trees of the 
forest. Nothing could be smoother and cleaner than the 
white sand of this beach, but here and there a black rugged 
cliff stood out from it, where, as the long swell of the 
Pacific, in regular intervals, rolled over the beach, each 
wave was dashed into a cloud of spray. In the south- 
eastern direction the Punta de Santa Helena, one of the 
western headlands of the mountains of Costarica, closed 
the view. 

It had been my intention to proceed along the coast in 
that direction as far as the little bay of Concordia, or San 
Juan del Sur, which at that time was an uninhabited 
district, like that called Brito, where I now found myself. 
My guide, however, assured me that I could neither pass 
along the coast, as some cliffs, he said, interrupted the line 
of beach, nor through the forest, where there was no road 
in the direction I intended to travel. Thus I was obliged 



104 A JICAEAL. Book I. 

to return to Kivas, and thence start anew for San Juan 
del Sur. 

From Eivas to the latter place the traveller has to 
follow a road which, after having reached the shore of the 
Pacific, leads along it into the State of Costarica. With 
the exception of a few cattle-farms situated in the woods, 
the country in this direction may be called a wilderness, 
exhibiting nature, however, in great variety. Here I saw 
for the first time what is called a Jicaral, or tract of land 
overgrown by jicara trees. It is quite a characteristic 
feature in the country, and must be described in a few 
words. The tree is the Crescentia Cujete, or calabash-tree, 
well known by the use which is made of the hard shell of 
its fruit in manufacturing vessels for domestic purposes. 
The drinking cups, constructed from a smaller species of 
an oval form, are called jicaras, while the bowls or basins 
prepared from a large variety of a compressed subglobular 
shape, sometimes of as much as one foot in diameter, are 
named guaeales. For the purpose of manufacturing these 
vessels, the tree is cultivated. Here, however, I am 
speaking of the wild tree, which bears fruits of the size of 
a large orange. The tree is small, with a great number 
of long, thin, worm-shaped branches, covered all along 
with small and very poor leaves of their own, but bearing 
an additional vegetation of parasitic Bromeliacece, in tufts 
of stiff leaves striped red and green, in parrot-like colours, 
so that a superficial observer may believe these tufts to be 
the flowers of the tree. To form an idea of a Jicaral, a 
number of these trees must be imagined scattered over a 
horizontal portion of the country, the soil of which consists 
of a black stiff clay, and which is so situated as to become 
overflowed in the rainy season, when the entire district is 
transformed into a marsh. During the dry season the soil 



Chap. VII. A JICARAL — THE UGLE. 105 

becomes nearly as hard as stone, and cracked in all direc- 
tions, so that it is sometimes exceedingly rough, and with 
its dark colour appears almost like a field of lava. Between 
the trees some tufts of a coarse kind of grass, and bushes 
of the aroma mimosa, with the sweet-scented yellow 
catkins, are scattered. The ground under the trees is 
strewed with the fruits, which are eagerly sought and eaten 
by the cattle, the succulent pulp allaying at the same time 
their hunger and thirst. But the skeletons of cows, horses, 
and mules lying about form an essential feature of a more 
extended Jicaral, as a considerable number of these animals 
die in these localities from want of food and water during 
the dry season. On a large scale a region of Jicarales 
extends all along the foot of the table-land of Chontales, 
Matagalpa, and New Segovia. 

Another peculiar feature of the country between Eivas 
and San Juan del Sur consists in some small localities 
with permanent moisture, covered with thickets, of ever- 
green trees with glossy leaves like those of most tropical 
species of Ficus, to which they may belong. A con- 
siderable quantity of milk exudes from the broken branches 
or leaves. Around these dark green groups of trees the 
country was covered with dry grass and scattered shrubs 
which, at that time of the year, stood loaded with yellow, 
white, pink, and lilac-coloured flowers, the whole pro- 
ducing the effect of an immense park. 

Farther west, where the hills began to be higher, 
reaching, as far as an estimate may be reliable, an eleva- 
tion at least of one thousand feet above the sea, the road 
entered the forest, which, in this region, follows the coast 
of the Pacific. I came to a brook rushing in cascades 
through a ravine, where I saw many of the trees called 
Ufle or Ugle, one of the several species from which 



106 



THE KING OF VULTURES. 



Book I. 



india-rubber is collected. The rocks over which the brook 
passes, and those in its vicinity, are recent deposits of 
carbonate of lime from its water, in parallel layers, and of 
a structure resembling that of stalactites. Tertiary rocks 
of limestone and sandstone, some of them in a metamorphic 
state, similar to the rocks of the hills west of Jinotepet, 
seem to constitute the coast range in this direction also, 
but the country is so thickly covered with vegetation that 
the mere passing traveller has little opportunity of making 
a series of observations calculated to convey a positive 
idea of the geological character of the region. On my 
way from San Juan del Sur to Virgin Bay I saw frag- 
ments of limestone heaped up near a lime-kiln, but I could 
not discover any fossils included in them. They were 
from a neighbouring quarry, but the necessity of reaching 
a certain locality before night did not allow me to visit it. 

On the bank of a little river my guide, by throwing a 
stone, killed a most beautiful specimen of a vulture of the 
species called the rey de zapilotes, or king of vultures. I 
regretted that I had not the means of taking it with me 
and preserving it. This bird, I suppose, is the Cozgacoate 
of Oviedo. The Aztec name, according to Mr. Buschmann, 
is Cozcaquauhtli, from quauhtli, eagle, and cozcoatl, a 
jewel, a compound which the learned linguist translates by 
" the eagle with the collar." 1 I was astonished to see the 
dexterity of my guide in throwing a stone. But I have 
been assured by persons of reliable authority that some of 
the herdsmen of Nicaragua are able to kill a deer in that 
manner. 

The little bay of Concordia, where one year later the 



1 Professor Lichtenstein, according 
to Mr. Buschmarm*s statement, was 
uncertain whether the Cozgacoate of 
Oviedo was Vultur saieoramphus, gry- 



phus, or icterus. I should say that 
the bird which my guide killed was 
either the Sarcoramphus Papa, or a 
species very similar to it. 



Chap. VII. LA CONCOKDIA. 107 

town of San Juan del Sur — or St. John on the South Sea — 
had sprung up, was, at the time of my visit, without a 
human habitation. It was however decided that the 
steamers from San Francisco should run in here. This, 
then, was the western terminus of the road which, under 
the name of the Nicaragua transit road, was at that time 
in progress of being opened through the woods, and has 
since become famous in the system of American com- 
munication as well as in the history of American specula- 
tions and politics, and in that of Central American 
revolutions and civil wars. At the time of my visit, the 
line of the road had only begun to be marked by a cut 
through the woods, and when I arrived on the shore of the 
bay, three or four men were engaged in erecting a hut of 
branches which might have been called the first house of 
the town of San Juan del Sur, and which, for the night 
I spent at this interesting place, afforded me the necessary 
shelter. Besides this shed, no traces of human activity 
were seen in the bay. The country all around was 
covered with a forest of lofty trees reaching down to high- 
water mark. Between a low growth of mangroves a little 
river empties itself into the bay. The beach, at its mouth, 
was covered with thousands of small shells of snails, which, 
as I came near, all ran away with amusing celerity, each 
of them being inhabited by a diminutive crab that had 
taken possession of it. 

In the roadstead before the bay was a vessel at anchor, 
from which, while I was riding along the beach, a boat 
was sent on shore. From this two gentlemen landed, one 
of whom addressed me in the English language, asking 
where the town of San Juan del Sur was situated. "We 
are in its main street here," I answered, "and there," I 
added, pointing to the shed, " you see the principal hotel." 



108 SAN JUAN DEL SUE. Book I. 

From the explanations following this introductory con- 
versation it appeared that the gentleman who accosted me 
was a Mr. Hall, of San Francisco, owner of the brigantine 
in the road, and which had left the golden gate for the 
purpose of buying provisions at San Juan del Sur. 
The reader may imagine Mr. Hall's disappointment 
when he heard that he had made a voyage of several 
thousand miles to an imaginary city, for the purpose of 
laying in stores at a place where there were not pro- 
visions enough to sustain the life of six persons for a 
single day, and where even my horse was in a starving 
condition, obstinately refusing to eat the leaves of any 
of the trees or shrubs that grew in the neighbourhood. 
Mr. Hall learned the true state of things with the calm 
mood of a man who had seen the origin of Sacramento 
and Stockton, and merely remarked that at San Francisco 
the plan of the town of San Juan del Sur, with the names 
of the streets and the situation of the public buildings, had 
been circulated, and that building lots had been offered for 
sale. 

My night's rest under the shed was disturbed by 
hundreds of minute ticks which entered my clothes and 
began to burrow themselves in my skin. These insects 
have been described by all travellers as one of the greatest 
annoyances in Central America, but they are quite as bad 
in Texas, Louisiana and other southern states of the 
Union ; and even a single walk through the grass, in some 
public places of New Orleans may expose you to the 
attacks of this kind of vermin. But at last I was lulled to 
sleep by the loud noise of the wind, which, though the 
stars shone bright and the air was soft and warm, bent the 
old trees of the forest, and by the roaring surf of the South 
Sea, sending its spray up to where I was stretched on the 



Chap. VII. NAGASCOLO. 109 

ground. When I rose in the morning the beach was 
covered with the dead bodies of a large species of eels 
thrown out by the waves together with other sea animals. 
This kind of fish, which has a skin spotted like that of a 
panther, is said to be poisonous, and it is even asserted 
that it communicates death to other animals approaching 
it in the water. 

The bay is of an almost circular form, with a narrow 
entrance between perpendicular rocks. Close by, on the 
other side of the hill by which it is locked in to the north- 
ward, is the bay of Nagascolo, somewhat smaller, but of a 
similar form. The narrow neck of land between the upper 
part of the two bays has but a slight elevation, and if ever 
a town of importance should spring up here, it might easily 
extend across this locality from the bay of Concordia to 
that of Nagascolo. 

Five years had elapsed when, in October, 1855, re- 
turning from California, I visited this place again. The 
rush of travellers, and the haste in passing on to the other 
side of the isthmus, did not leave me time to examine the 
town of San Juan del Sur, which, since my first visit, had 
risen here, nor to ask for information as to the number of 
its houses and inhabitants. But my impression is that 
there could not be more than twenty houses. These were 
built of wood, and the materials had been sent, ready for 
erection, from the United States. They were pleasantly 
situated, scattered amongst the trees that had been spared 
from the primitive forest, and the little place looked quite 
snug and comfortable. 

What may have become of this rising town since the 
transit has been interrupted in consequence of the proceed- 
ings of Walker, the filibuster, I am unable to tell. When I 
passed, in 1855, the place was the head-quarters of this 



110 THE TKANSIT EOAD. Book I. 

adventurer, and I saw him sitting in his tent outside the 
town. It was on the 3rd of October, not long before he 
succeeded in taking possession of the city of Granada and 
making himself, for a short time, master of Nicaragua. 
But of this remarkable episode in the history of Central 
America I shall take an opportunity of speaking more in 
a subsequent chapter. 

In 1855 the transit road between San Juan del Sur and 
Virgin Bay was in a tolerably good condition, and the 
passengers of the steamer Cortes, in whose company I 
passed over the Isthmus, found it dry enough even then, 
in the rainy season, to walk over a great portion, for the 
purpose of obtaining some exercise between the two sea- 
voyages. This walk was a real pleasure trip, which we 
all enjoyed ; the beauty of the scenery in passing the hills, 
and the purity of the air, making the whole party feel 
delighted with the country. 

But I must not forget that I have to return to February, 
1851. At that time no transit road existed, and the line 
it was to follow was scarcely marked in its extent by a cut 
through the woods. In reference to the two termini, on 
the lake and on the Pacific, considerable pains were taken 
to keep the public in ignorance. But having once hit upon 
the line, I followed it as much as I could on my return to 
the shore of the lake, which I reached at the place where 
the little town of Virgin Bay was founded shortly after. 
The distance between this place and San Juan del Sur is 
twelve miles. Biding through the forest I saw several 
trunks of trees lying on the ground in a state of slow com- 
bustion. The fire, having begun at one of their ends, was 
glowing, without flame, like that of a cigar, and its progress 
was so gradual, that, as long as I stood by, I could not 
observe the slightest advancement. From the ashes on 



Chap. VIT. WASPS— THEIR SENSE OF HEARING. HI 

the ground, however, I could see that a considerable por- 
tion of the trunks had already been consumed, and my 
guide assured me that more than a month ago he had seen 
these trunks on fire. According to this rate of progress, a 
quarter of a year must have been necessary to accomplish 
the total combustion of one of these trunks. Whether the 
statement of my guide was exact, of course, I am unable 
to tell. 

I passed the night at the Hacienda de la Sebadilla, 
situated near the road at about equal distances from the 
lake and the ocean. In the evening 1 met an Englishman 
of my acquaintance, who superintended a body of Indians 
at work on the road, and invited me to pass the night with 
him at the hacienda where he had his quarters, promising 
to accompany me to Kivas the next morning. 

We started very early and followed the cut through 
the bush. On the trees near the road I saw numerous 
large wasps' nests of an irregular oval form. My guide 
told me that it was not good to speak loud in the vicinity 
of these nests, as the wasps become easily irritated by a 
noise and would attack me. I gave little credit to his 
statement. But soon after, when I had remained behind 
for a few hundred paces, and the extraordinary dimensions 
of one of these nests, which could not have less than four 
or five feet in diameter, induced me to call my companion 
to look at it, the insects suddenly rushed forth and sur- 
rounded me. I put spurs to my horse and fled with all 
the speed of which it was capable. My companion, whom 
I passed, followed in the same manner, while the infuriated 
insects were all the time upon us, many of them getting 
into our hair and darting their stings wherever they could 
find access to our skin. I trembled for the consequences, 
as the stings were burning like fire, but the pain was of 



112 VIRGIN BAY. Book I. 

short duration, the swelling very slight and soon passed 
away, and the consequences were less severe than I have 
known to follow from the bite of as many mosquitos. On 
another occasion the report of a gun produced the same 
effect in exciting the wrath of a swarm of w T asps. I shot a 
bird, when a companion of mine who stood near raised such 
a cry that in the first moment I thought I had shot him. 
His terror, however, was caused by the sudden attack of a 
swarm of wasps rushing from their nest immediately after 
the shot had been fired. 

At that time no habitation existed at the place called 
Bakia de la Virgen, or Virgin Bay. The name was 
simply applied to a little indenture of the shore of the lake. 
The beach, here, is a bed of black lava. In 1855 the 
little town built since the period of my first visit consisted 
of a number of wooden houses, all of them being hotels, 
forming a single street which runs straight down to the 
landing place of the lake steamers. The largest building was 
that of the Transit Company, containing the offices, store- 
rooms, and residence of their agent. From the shallow- 
ness of the water the steamers cannot come close to the 
shore, and as the lake has generally a very heavy surf 
here, the embarking as well as disembarking of some 
hundred passengers was connected with considerable incon- 
veniences. At the landing place speculating girls with 
brown faces and black eyes had established their stalls for 
the sale of chocolate, coffee, lemonade, liquors, oranges, 
pine-apples, and other fruits of the country. The town, at 
that time, was the dearest and most inhospitable place I 
have ever heard of. For as much room on the bare floor 
in one of the hotels as I wanted to lie upon for the night, 
without any other accommodation, I had to pay three 
dollars. Outside of the house was a wooden bench of 



Chap. YU. KIO DE LAS LAJAS. 113 

which a man had taken possession, when one of the waiters 
of the house came up to him w 7 ith the information that if 
he wanted to sit there he must pay for it. 

Between Virgin Bay and the village of San Jorge, the 
Rio cle las Lajas — the little river mentioned above — 
empties into the lake. During the dry season its mouth is 
closed by a dry sand-bar. But above the bar the water is 
deep even at that time of the year, and the river is said to 
extend for a considerable distance upwards in this manner, 
passing through a dense forest. During the rainy season 
it conveys much water to the lake. According to general 
information, as I have stated above, this was to be the 
eastern terminus of the projected Ship-canal between the 
lake and the Pacific. The land on one side of the river- 
mouth was the property of an old farmer whom I found 
fully convinced that a few years hence all the vessels of the 
world would pass his house on their way between the 
Atlantic and Pacific, and he was already making prepara- 
tions to furnish them with dry beans, sweet potatoes, and 
other vegetables. I asked him whether he would not sell 
some of his land ? " There is no man who has got money 
enough to buy my land " — he answered with a smile. 
But he w r as willing to let a portion of it for a few years at 
the rate of ten dollars the cavalleria — an extent of between 
one and two hundred acres. His economical notions ap- 
peared to be altogether deranged by the contrast of his 
great expectations with the modesty of his customary 
habits. 

At any rate the mouth of the Rio de las Lajas is one of 
the most favoured localities on the shores of the lake of 
Nicaragua. Soil and climate are excellent, and most 
tropical productions might be cultivated here with advan- 
tage. The situation is as desirable as can be imagined — 

I 



114 POLITICAL CHAKACTEBS. Book I. 

and as to the natural charms of the site for a family resi- 
dence, they cannot be surpassed in any part of the world. 

From this place I returned to Rivas, whence I sent to 
Granada for my horse. While waiting for it, I made the 
acquaintance of two men who have acted prominent parts 
in the recent history of Nicaragua. One of them was the 
licentiate Laureano Pineda, at that time a lawyer at Rivas, 
but shortly after elected Director Supremo of the Republic, 
though he filled the presidential chair for a few weeks only. 
Mr. Pineda had the appearance and manners of a gentle- 
man equally dignified and popular. It has been said that 
when he was elected, and he departed to the capital, he 
remarked that he knew he was going to his death, but that 
he was resolved to do his duty as a citizen. He was well 
aware of the exasperated feelings of the different political 
parties. These his election was intended to allay, but 
only contributed to bring to an outbreak. Scarcely had 
he been inaugurated when both parties accused each other 
mutually of meditating violence, and these accusations were 
followed by the fact. One night the whole government of 
Leon was quietly arrested. The gentlemen composing it 
were taken from their houses, placed on horses, and carried 
out of the country. The banishment of Mr. Pineda was 
not of long duration. From the State of San Salvador, 
where he had taken refuge, an English vessel brought him 
to San Juan del Sur, whence he came back to Rivas. 
The state of politics, however, had completely changed in 
the mean time, and he was not placed in office again. 

A public character of much superior interest was Fruto 
Chamorro, at that time Prefect of the department of Rivas. 
I had a conversation with him with regard to a projected 
settlement of Germans at San Juan del Sur, an idea to 
which he was decidedly opposed. Nicaragua, he told me 



Chap. VII. 



NANDAIME. 



115 



in a polite but most determined manner, did not like to see 
foreigners settle on its territory ; and when I replied by 
representing the contrary views of General Munoz, he 
remarked that the influence of General Munoz would soon 
terminate. l A few months later Fruto Chamorro, at the 
head of a military force of some hundred men, marched on 
Leon, where the party to which Munoz belonged had esta- 
blished an opposition government. The latter fell into 
the hands of his adversary, and narrowly escaping the fate 
of being shot, was banished from the country. Of both 
men I shall have to speak more hereafter. 

It was the 4th of March when I returned to Granada. 
The road leads through some very fine sections of country, 
particularly those near the southern foot of the Mombacho. 
The southern side of this mountain presents a much more 
interesting aspect than the northern. The southern wall 
of the crater being broken down, the inner side of the 
northern wall can be seen from that quarter. 

I passed the night at Nandaime, a large village, situated 
in the plain, at the south-western base of the Mombacho. 
This plain is kept moist and green throughout the year by 
the local exudations caused by the mountain as stated on a 
former occasion. It has several permanent springs, and 
the inhabitants are much engaged in the cultivation of rice, 
for which commodity Nandaime is the chief place of pro- 
duction in Nicaragua. 



1 After my return to Granada I 
wrote to the General on this subject, 
mentioning the ideas of his political 
adversary. In his answer, dated Leon 
the 20th of March, the General says : — 
" Mi infmencia estara" siempre en favor 



de la colonizacion, y mucho mas del 
pueblo Aleman, que por muchos titulos 
y grande interes es acreedor a nuestras 
deferencias." The opposite views of 
these two men were the views of their 
parties. 



I 2 



116 EXCURSION TO CHONTALES. Book I. 



CHAPTEE VIII. 

An Excursion to the Province of Chontales and to Upper Mosquitia — Estero 
Panaloya — The Jicarales — Masapa — Savanas on Fire — Parallel Chains 

— Juigalpa — Opals in Nicaragua — Old Indian Fortifications — The Gold 
Region — The Aquilucho — Minerals — Acoyapa — Snakes in Nicaragua — 
A beautiful Species of Spoonbill — The Supa, or Pijivaye — The Nancite 

— The Edge of the Table-land — Hydrographical Remarks — Change of 
Scenery — View from the Summit — Climate of the Table- land — The 
Woolwa Indians and the Ancient Chontalli — Village of Lovago and its 
Population — Aztec Colonies — Manners of the Woolwas — Hacienda de San 
Jose' — Nicaraguan Curassows — A White Harpy. 

On the 2 1 st of May a party of four, of which I formed 
one, started from Granada on a trip to the province or 
district of Chontales, This name is given to the country 
extending from the north-eastern shores of the lake to the 
table-land of Upper Mosquitia. 

The ride in the cool air of the morning along the smooth 
sand beach of the lake was refreshing and delightful. I 
know nothing in natural scenery to be compared with the 
beauty of a fine morning in Nicaragua. We had to follow 
the beach for a distance of twenty miles in a northerly 
direction. Our horses, moving at a quick travelling pace, 
kept close to the water's edge, where the sand was moist, 
and consequently forming a firm bottom. Their hoofs 
were bathed from time to time by a wave, and a better and 
more pleasant road could not be imagined. Flocks of 
plovers, avocettes, snipes, sandpipers, and other birds of 
the waterside, ran before the feet of our horses. To our 
left was the bush, where parrots were chattering on the 
boughs of every tree. To our right the view passed over 



Chap. VIII. ESTEEO PANALOYA — THE JICARALES. 117 

the lake and was bounded in the distance by the moun- 
tains of Juigalpa, towards which our journey tended. The 
sky above this bright landscape was of unmingled purity, 
the impression being heightened by here and there a 
Tijereta, or Frigate, soaring without any perceptible motion 
of its wings, high above the surface of the water. This 
bird, of which there are two kinds here, corresponding to 
two different species of Tachypetes or Pregata, is an 
essential feature of Nicaraguan lake scenery. The Spanish 
name is derived from tijera — a pair of scissors — designat- 
ing the two long feathers in the tail of the bird. 

At a little village, called Los Cocos, the road leaves the 
shore and enters a forest of tall trees, amongst which are 
many palms with fan-shaped leaves, and trees with their 
roots dividing at a considerable elevation above the ground. 
Passing through this forest we arrived at the Estero Pana- 
loya, a long, deep, and narrow branch of the lake, which, 
as long as the Rio de Tipitapa was running, formed the 
mouth of that river. The name Panaloyan, according to 
Mr. Buschmann, means a ferry, from the Aztec verb pano 
— " to ferry over." The Spanish name of the locality is 
Paso Real — the King's ferry. 

Our passage across the Estero was connected with some 
difficulties arising from one of our horses being unable to 
swim and threatening to sink the ferry boat. We suc- 
ceeded, however, in safely reaching the other side, where 
we continued our journey without delay. The road led 
through tracts of forest and extensive Jicarales, where I 
was astonished to see some globular cacti with small red 
fruits growing on a soil which, for at least three quarters of 
the year, is a morass ; though at that time the ground was 
dry, with deep cracks running through it in all directions, and 
hard as a rock. This was a section of the Jicaral region 



118 THE MASAPA. Book I. 

mentioned in the last chapter as extending along the foot 
of the table-land of Chontales, Matagalpa, and New 
Segovia. During the rains, the communication with those 
higher regions of the country is almost entirely interrupted 
by this belt of marshes, and even during the dry season the 
soil of some portions becomes hard only at the surface, 
while other localities, where permanent springs exist, 
remain marshy throughout the year. We passed some of 
these places, which were frequented by numerous musk- 
ducks almost as large as geese. 

Towards the evening we arrived at the buildings of the 
hacienda of Masapa, where we intended to pass the night. 
They are situated on a broad and flat dome-shaped eleva- 
tion, between the higher mountains which commence in 
that neighbourhood. The rocks in this district have a 
trachytic and phonolitic character, either in a more homo- 
geneous or in a porphyritic state. A ridge of mountains 
begins here at the shore of the lake, continuing in a south- 
easterly direction, and terminating south of Acayopa. 
The situation of the hacienda is very fine, but the soil 
suffers from want of moisture during the dry season, 
though a never-failing little river is at a short distance. 
Absolutely nothing was to be found here to feed our horses, 
and we had to send them several miles off, to a patch 
of grass where they remained during the night. The 
hacienda, like all haciendas of Chontales, is a mere cattle 
farm, without any agricultural improvements. Before the 
commencement of the rains the dry grass is set on fire, 
and with the approaching darkness we saw the savanas of 
the neighbouring heights burning in several places. As 
the grass is generally of a thin growth on these rocky 
mountain sides, the fire can do little harm ; though, during 
that night, we were told it consumed a valuable stock 



Chap. VIII. PAEALLEL CHAINS. 119 

of Brazil-wood, cut and piled up for exportation on a hill in 
the vicinity. Continuing our journey on the following 
morning, we had to pass through the fire of a burning 
savana. The line of progressing combustion ran across a 
valley through which the road passed. But from the 
scantiness of the grass in consequence of the rocky nature 
of the soil, the flames were not dangerous, and our horses 
crossed them without resistance. We felt, however, a 
very sensible increase of the temperature in the valley, in 
which we found the air close^ and the smoke extremely 
annoying. Of the shrubs and trees which stood scattered 
in the valley, the leaves only had suffered from the fire, 
and no trunks or branches were seen actually burning or 
recently ignited. This is very different in some of the 
savanas of the United States. In western Texas I saw 
the trunks of oak-trees burning many days after the fire 
had passed over the prairie. 

Our road continued through a wide longitudinal valley 
between two main ridges of mountains parallel to each 
other; but the space thus included, instead of exhibiting 
one general bottom, is filled up with minor elevations in 
the form of flat domes, broad transversal yokes, and lower 
hills, by which it is divided into different hydrographic 
sections. The highest mountains were all the time to our 
left. Before reaching the town of Juigalpa, and while the 
road led along the side of a mountain, some hills with 
regular slopes and terraces like those of a modern fortress 
were seen on the opposite side of the valley. The whole 
conveyed the impression of an artificial formation, and 
I was sorry that neither time nor circumstances permitted 
a minute examination. The sky was threatening with the 
first thunderstorm of the rainy season, which begins sooner 
in the mountains of this region than in the low country 



120 



JUIGALPA. 



Book I. 



around the lakes. The hour was late in the day, and we 
were still at a considerable distance from Juigalpa. Since 
that time, however, I have seen the map of Nicaragua, 
published by Don Fermin Ferrer, 1 in which "ruins" are 
indicated between Acoyapa and San Migueleto ; and, from 
this fact as well as from the descriptions of certain old 
Indian fortifications in Guatemala, given by the Abbe 
Brasseur de Bourbourg, I have little doubt that what I saw 
from a distance on the road west of Juigalpa, were the 
remains of some old Indian stronghold. 

Before we could reach Juigalpa a torrent of rain poured 
down upon us, making the mountain path so slippery that 
we had considerable trouble in descending into the valley. 
The town is situated at the foot of one of the highest 
mountains in the chain, which is seen from a great distance 
in the lower country as well as on the table-land, though I 
should not estimate its altitude at more than five thousand 
feet. It is steep and rocky, and the greater part covered 
with forest. The country around this mountain, which I 
may call the Cerro de Juigalpa, has the reputation of being 
rich in gold, and a company of inhabitants of Juigalpa and 
Granada had begun to work a. mine at the sources of the 
Rio Mica, and had accumulated a large quantity of a 
yellow substance of which they were uncertain whether it 
was gold or not. The samples shown to me by a North 
American, who introduced himself as the director of the 
mine, were iron pyrites included in calcareous spar, which, 
according to the general geological character of this section 
of country, should be supposed to form a vein in the por- 



1 Geographical Map of the Eepublic 
of Nicaragua, by Fermin Ferrer, 1855 
= — without an indication of the place of 
publication, which, however, may be 



justly supposed to be New York. The 
map, with the exception of a few spe- 
cialties, is without peculiar value. 



Chap. VIII. THE AQUILUCHO. 121 

phyry. With the pyrites gold seems to be really associated 
here in a considerable proportion, as the Indians bring 
sometimes grains of gold in quills for sale to Juigalpa. 
The director of the mine, however, was unable to distin- 
guish between the gold and the pyrites, and, of course, 
cannot be supposed to have understood any method of 
extracting the precious metal. The rocks of this region 
are all trachytic and phonolitic porphyries, with frequent 
inclusions of opal and of various minerals of the Zeolite 
family. A little hill in the immediate vicinity of the town 
is composed of a beautiful light-green porphyry. 

Opals have lost much of their interest and value since 
they can be produced by art. But, nevertheless, it may 
be worth while to state that it is not in Honduras alone 
that they are found in Central America. In Nicaragua, 
they occur at Chontales and Matagalpa, and the Cerro del 
Diamante, near the little town of Teustepet, as well as the 
Cerro de Martinez, east of Acoyapa, have been indicated 
to me as the principal localities for these precious stones. 

From Juigalpa to Acoyapa the road continues between 
the same two parallel chains, as in the tract from Masapa 
to Juigalpa. On this part of our way I found a feather 
from the wing of a bird of extraordinary size, the quill 
being thicker than that of a swan. I was told that it was 
the feather of a large bird of prey called the Aquilucho, 
living in the highest mountains of this region, and so power- 
ful that it carries away young sheep and the largest 
monkeys to its nest. A reliable authority at Acoyapa, 
whom I questioned on the subject, corroborated these state- 
ments, adding that the Aquilucho is even in the habit 
of killing calves. The bird must be either a condor, or — 
what appears more likely — a large harpyia. 

As we approached nearer to Acoyapa, the transversal 



122 ACOYAPA. Book I. 

yokes of the mountains became higher. Near the Hacienda 
de Pompoa, situated half-way between the latter place and 
Juigalpa, the porphyry included masses of white foliated 
Heulandite and radiated Mesotype ; the latter with well- 
formed terminal faces of the crystals. This mineral is of 
common occurrence between the hacienda and Acoyapa, 
and all the white pebbles in the little river near that town 
are of Mesotype. In the neighbourhood of Acoyapa, the 
ridge which had continued between our road and the lake 
all the way from Masapa suddenly terminates, and the 
valley opens towards the latter. But a broad bar of low 
basaltic or doleritic hills is placed before the opening, sepa- 
rating the bottom-land of the valley from the shores of the 
lake, and leaving an outlet only for the little river on 
which the town is situated. 

Acoyapa is the chief town of Chon tales. Together with 
the farms of the surrounding country, it has a population of 
about 2600 inhabitants. The principal wealth of the pro- 
vince is in its pastures and in the cattle, horses and mules 
raised on them. Mules, hides, and cheese are the articles 
of export. The valleys of this region are hotter and less 
healthy than the shores of the lake, while the table-land 
beyond the principal chain of mountains north-east of 
Acoyapa is healthier than both regions. The town is situ- 
ated on a little hill, at the foot of which, under the shade 
of large trees, the river flows. During the dry season 
there is scarcely water, and when I saw it it was little 
more than a number of water-holes in a bed of sand and 
pebbles. When the rains prevail, however, it seems to 
accumulate a considerable quantity of water, as may be 
judged from the large boulders heaped up in some portions 
of its bed. This is the condition of all the smaller rivers 
of this region. 



Chap. VIII. SHAKES IN NICARAGUA. 123 

With regard to the name of this stream, I am in an 
uncertainty of which I cannot tell whether it is my own 
fault or not. As I understood the people of Acoyapa, 
they called their river Rio Mico, the Monkey River. But 
it must be remarked that a river of the same name is on 
the other side of the principal chain, running in an 
opposite direction and being a tributary of the Bluefield. 
Fermin Ferrer, in his maps of Nicaragua above men- 
tioned, and Mr. Squier in the map to his " Notes on 
Central America," call the river of Acoyapa Rio Poderoso. 
According to Mr. Buschmann, the name Acoyapa signifies 
"a place where the water expands;" from the Aztec 
words atl, water, and coyahua, to spread. I cannot see, 
however, how this corresponds with the nature of the 
locality, unless it be referred to an extensive jicaral in the 
valley below the town. 

We were received in the house of the first Alcalde, who 
we found to be a very intelligent an,d obliging person, to 
whom I am indebted for much information respecting the 
independent Indians of the neighbouring district of Mos- 
quitia. On one of the nights we passed in his house, 
illumined by the light of the moon, a companion of mine 
called me to see a large snake passing between the wooden 
bars of the window into our room. The reader must be 
aware that in the whole State of Nicaragua, and I suppose 
throughout Central America in general, glass windows are 
unknown. A rat then was seen running up the wall, to 
hide itself under the thatch of the house, which, as there 
was no ceiling between, we had immediately over us. 
The snake followed it with a spring, and soon the scream- 
ing of the rat told us that it was caught by its enemy. 
This snake was of a species called ratonera, or rat-snake, 
and being totallv harmless and even useful, is tolerated in 



124 SNAKES IN NICARAGUA. Book I. 

the houses. As to poisonous reptiles I have never seen 
any in Nicaragua, with the exception of a beautiful speci- 
men of the coral-snake, which had been killed and was 
brought to me at Granada, and I could not learn one 
single case of a person having died from the bite of a 
serpent in the interior of the country. This was not the 
case at San Juan del Norte, where the son of one of the 
principal merchants had been killed in that manner and 
other similar instances were recorded. But still this 
cannot be compared with the danger from venomous 
reptiles in Texas, New Mexico, and other southern and 
western parts of the Union. In some tracts along the Rio 
Grande a rattlesnake may be seen every few hundred 
paces, and at San Antonio in Texas no summer passes 
without some persons of the lower classes, mostly Mexicans, 
dying from the bite of the mocassin. In Nicaragua too a 
species of rattlesnake — cascabela — is found, but it cannot be 
very abundant, as I never encountered it in my travels. 
Two kinds of snakes are said to be particularly dangerous 
in the coast region near San Juan del Norte and in the 
woods of the San Juan river, — one of them called the 
culebra tobova, the other the vibora de sangre^ and to these 
the fatal cases which I heard mentioned at San Juan 
were ascribed. 

A little basin of water, at the foot of the steep hill on 
which the town is situated, was a place of rendezvous for 
various kinds of large aquatic birds, which at certain hours 
I saw there assembled in flocks. Amongst them were two 
kinds of white herons ; a very large white bird with black 
wings, head and neck entirely naked, and the whole very 
much like the Jabiru or Mycteria Americana. There was 
also a rose-coloured spoonbill with a rhombic shape of its 
bill, the whole bird of the most delicate beauty, with dif~ 



Chap. VIII. THE SUPA, OR PIJIYAYE. 125 

ferent kinds of bitterns, and others. The white herons are 
called garza, the large white bird with the black wings 
and the naked head and neck has the two names of 
garzon or gudiron, and the spoonbill is known by the name 
of garza morena. I shot specimens of all these different 
kinds, without being able to preserve them for scientific 
purposes. 

While my companions remained at Acoyapa, I made an 
excursion to the table-land on the other side of the dividing 
ridge. From what I have already observed in describing 
the road from Masapa to Acoyapa, I need not say that 
the dividing ridge is to the north-east of Acoya ; but as all 
the former maps have laid down this town on the table- 
land of Mosquitia, instead of placing it between the divid- 
ing ridge and the lake, it may be useful to state this fact 
expressly. The Alcalde provided me with a guide, and I 
started from Acoyapa in the direction to the sources of the 
Rio Mico ; that is to say, the Rio Mico which is a tribu- 
tary of the Bluefield river. 

The road led in a north-north-easterly direction, first 
across an open plain, then over hills covered with shrubs 
and trees, at last through a valley, along the dry bed of a 
torrent lined with high trees and thickets of bamboo and 
of a diminutive palm-tree called Supa in the language of 
the Woolwa Indians, and Pijivaye 1 in the dialect of Nica- 
ragua. The stem of the little tree is rarely higher than 
six feet and thicker than a finger. It bears a cluster of 
nuts of the size of a walnut, which are eaten, and, when 
roasted, have a taste very much like the chestnut. The 
bed of the torrent is filled with blocks and boulders of 
various sizes, all of porphyritic rocks with a predominating 



1 The above word is spelled according to the rules of Spanish pronunciation. 



126 EDGE OF THE TABLE-LAND. Book I. 

trachytic or phonolitic basis. The sides of the hills and 
mountains are rocky, but covered with grass and bushes. 
Amongst the latter a shrub or little tree called Nancite is 
characteristic, and prevails to such a degree that it deter- 
mines the aspect of vegetation in the greater part of 
Chontales. The shrub is found in the lower country like- 
wise, and I have seen it often in the environs of Granada. 
It has a stunted growth, like some dwarf-oaks ; bears clus- 
ters of red berries of a sub-acid taste, which are preserved 
and eaten like cranberries ; and the bark is said to be a 
superior material for tanning. If the latter statement is 
correct, this bark might become of commercial importance, 
as any quantity of it may be obtained from these regions. 

From the valley the path ascended a steep mountain 
side, where a family lived in a hut, keeping some goats and 
chickens ; but I could see no trace of cultivation in the 
neighbourhood, and I was really unable to conceive how 
these people managed to sustain life. Farther on, the path 
led along the brim of a precipice, from which I looked 
down upon a valley covered with a forest of high trees. 
The roaring of a number of howling-monkeys, sounding 
almost like that of lions, was heard from below. 

"When I had reached the summit of the ascent, I saw 
myself on the edge of the table-land, and a beautiful park- 
like country, with green prairies, clusters of trees and little 
groves lay expanded before me. Here numerous springs 
give rise to brooks and rivulets which, by their confluence, 
form the Rio Mico. This river, together with the Rio 
Siquias, into which it empties, and the Rio Arama, which 
likewise empties into the latter, from the same side and a 
little lower down, make up the Boswas or Boswash. This 
name, in the language of the Woolwas, means " the three 
rivers," from bos, three, and was, water, or river. The 



Chap. VIII. CHANGE OF SCENERY..' 127 

Boswas flows to Bluefield ; but whether it is the Bluefield 
river itself, or only one of its tributaries, I was unable to 
learn. Looking over the nearer portion of the table-land^ 
my eyes were arrested by a flat wooded ridge slightly 
elevated above the average level, following the course of 
the river just mentioned. These woods, I was told, con- 
tinue along it down to the sea-shore ; from which statement, 
however, it would be erroneous to conclude that the whole 
country in this direction is covered with forests. The 
greater part of Mosquitia, on the contrary, consists of 
savanas, the woods following the course of the rivers and the 
direction of the elevations only. Where the soil is sandy, 
the woods are formed by scattered pine-trees with groups 
of palmettos. Of this kind of vegetation, however, there 
was no trace in the region I visited on that occasion. Trees 
and shrubs were mostly different from those in the lower 
country of Nicaragua. One of the trees scattered here 
and there over the savana was covered with large rose- 
coloured flowers. If I am not mistaken, it was the Bigno- 
nia leucoxylon, a tree which grows in the low country 
along the Belize river, in British Honduras, and is known 
there by the name of " mayflower." The air of the table- 
land was cool and refreshing, with a gentle breeze from the 
north-east. Here and there in the distance a house or 
hut was seen, while herds of cows and horses were grazing 
in the plain in all directions. 

The change of scenery, on reaching the summit of the 
ascent, had been so complete and so sudden that it 
seemed as if a hundred miles had intervened between 
looking forward and backward. In the latter direction, 
which was that to the south-south-west, the view followed 
the valley through which I had ascended. Mountains of 
considerable elevation are on both sides, the highest being 



123 MONKEYS. Book I. 

the Gerro de Juigalpa, which stands to the right, and is 
marked by its abrupt steepness. Where the valley opened 
into the plain of Acoyapa, the view passed over the 
lower country, beyond which the lake expanded itself 
at the foot of an extensive region of mountains and hills. 
Just before the opening of the valley, the two peaks of 
Ometepe rose from the water. Beyond this island the 
hills of the Isthmus of Rivas were seen, and on the farthest 
horizon, faintly traced, the volcanoes of Costarica were 
discernible. The Mombacho, a little ore to the right, 
marked the site of Granada. 1 

A house stood at the very edge of the plateau, so as to 
command the view down the valley, as described. 

Continuing my journey over the table-land, I was struck 
by observing the number of springs in this region. Within 
a circuit of not many miles in diameter a river is formed on 
which the canoes of the Indians can pass down to Blue- 
fields. Most of these springs are surrounded by trees and 
thickets of bamboo, and of the little supa palm mentioned 
above. At one of these localities, while passing under a 
tree, I disturbed the peace of a family of monkeys. With 
loud and angry chatterings they fled, and soon were hidden 
between the branches. But in this hasty flight a young 
one had been left behind on a branch just above the path, 
and so near that I could reach it with the muzzle of my 
gun. I stopped my horse to look at the little creature, 
which seemed to be so much frightened that it did not dare 
to move when its mother came back to save it. It was 
interesting to watch the struggle between fear and maternal 
love in the old monkey, alternately approaching, now 



1 The view accompanying this page was taken at one or two hundred feet 
below the summit. 



Chap. VIII. INHABITANTS OF CHONTALES. 129 

retiring, hiding herself in the thicket, and then appearing 
again. Several times she stretched her arm towards her 
offspring, but as her eyes met mine, she again lost courage. 
At last the better feeling prevailed ; with a sudden desperate 
jump she reached the little thing, clasped it in her arm, and 
in an instant was out of sight. 

It was yet early in the afternoon when I reached the 
habitation of the outermost Nicaraguan settler in this di- 
rection, who gave me a friendly reception, and, when I left 
the next morning, refused to take payment, accepting only 
some powder and shot, of which I made him a present. 
The first of these two articles is rare and valuable in this 
district, the latter not to be had at all. The Chontalenos, 
or inhabitants of Chontales, are accustomed to hunt with 
bow and arrows, like the Indians. The small habitation 
in which I was received by Don Tomas S. was exceedingly 
clean, and nicely built of bamboo-reeds, to the exclusion 
of almost any other material. Even the furniture — con- 
sisting of a table, some benches and bedsteads — was com- 
posed of the same. Don Tomas, when I arrived, was 
occupied in preparing cheese, which is done on a large 
scale here, and he offered me a guacal full of fresh cream 
of as delicate a taste as I have ever enjoyed in Switzerland. 
The Nicaraguan cheese, however, is dry and of an inferior 
quality. But a large quantity is made and consumed in 
the country, and the inhabitants consider it a great deli- 
cacy. What is the cause of its inferior quality I cannot 
tell ; it cannot be in the nature of the milk, which is good 
everywhere in Nicaragua. As far as my eyes could reach 
from the habitation of Don Tomas, the savana was covered 
with herds. The scene would have reminded me of 
Switzerland, if the country had not been so different in its 
natural features from the region of the Alps. 

K 



130 INDIANS OF THE MOSQUITO TEERITORY. Book I. 

The savanas of this table-land are green throughout the 
year, there being no such distinction as that of a dry and 
a wet season, or of summer and winter. The temperature 
is always mild, and a due proportion of sunshine and rain 
prevails at all periods. Gigantic trees are . scattered here 
and there over these prairies, affording shades to which 
the herds repair during the noontide heat. The trees and 
shrubs are principally exogenous, a few goyol-trees being 
the only kind of palm, which, with the exception of the 
little supa, I saw on the table-land. 

In this district the outermost settlers from Nicaragua 
dwell in immediate contact with the independent Indians 
of the Mosquito territory. As some families of them lived 
in the neighbourhood of Don Tomas I went to see them, 
and my friendly host accompanied me. After we had 
proceeded three miles, passing the Rio Mico — which, at 
the place of the passage, was a little river running over 
pebbles of porphyry — we came to an impenetrable thicket 
of shrubs and reeds, where we halted, alighted from our 
horses, and entered an almost imperceptible path leading 
into the jungle. In a zigzag, like the entrance to a fortress, 
this path suddenly brought us to a large open shed, under 
which eight or ten Indians — men, women, and children — 
were assembled. Apparently they were surprised and felt 
uneasy at our arrival. Their good neighbour, Don 
Tomas, took pains to dissipate the suspicion I seemed to 
inspire, and I too did my best to insinuate myself into 
their friendly feelings ; but I was unable to overcome the 
mistrust of the old women of the family even by making 
them a present of cigars, some small silver coins, and other 
trifles. On our way back Don Tomas gave me an ex- 
planation of their behaviour. These Indians believed me 
to be an Englishman from Bluefields, who, under the 



Chap. VIII. THE REY-KING. 131 

authority of the King of Mosquitia, had come, to exact 
some services from them. On several occasions such 
exactions had been made, and parties had been sent up 
from Bluefields to press a number of men into the service 
of the king, or rather of his British tutors, for the purpose 
of cutting wood or doing other work on the river. The 
tribe of Indians to whom I paid a visit had lived some- 
what lower down, but had retired to these upper regions 
for the purpose of remaining unmolested by the govern- 
ment of the Rey-King — the title which, by a composition 
of the Spanish and English words for the character of 
royalty, they gave to the Zambo sovereign of Mosquitia. 
Don Tomas told me that they suspected " the son of the 
Rey-King " would come with soldiers to carry them down 
to the coast by force, and compel them to work there. 

When we arrived, all the individuals under the shed 
were completely naked, but the women hastened to put 
on an apron; the men, though more leisurely, did the 
same, and after a while the whole family, according to 
Indian notions, were in a becoming state for appearing 
before a foreign visitor. I observed that the more aged 
amongst them were suffering, or had been suffering, from 
cutaneous affections. Their skin, which, in a healthy 
state, was of a dark brown colour, showed large spots of a 
lighter shade, where it peeled off, and the marks of boils 
and sores were visible on different parts of their bodies. 
All of them were deformed by the disproportioned exten- 
sion of the abdomen. The expression of their faces was 
not disagreeable, though their features were more of the 
broad Mongolic than of the sharper type of the Aztec and 
Chorotegan races in the lower country. If my memory 
serves me well, their physiognomy bore a considerable de- 
gree of resemblance to that of the Indians of the southern 

k 2 



132 INDIAN MODE OF FISHING. Book T. 

part of the State of California between the Colorado desert 
and Los Angeles. 

A fire was burning under the roof on which some fish 
and a number of plantains were roasting. The fishes were 
of the species which, at Granada, is called guapote. I 
saw, besides, some little stores of mandioca-roots, sugar- 
cane, pine-apples, supa-nuts, and a fine guanavana. The 
latter, which is a well-known fruit of exquisite flavour and 
taste, is extremely rare at Granada, and, as it is not very 
likely that the foresight of these Indians should extend to 
planting of fruit-trees, must be supposed to grow wild in 
this region. The mandioca, however, the sugar-cane, 
and the pine-apples, are cultivated near their habitations, 
I saw them fishing on the river, which they did with bow 
and arrows, passing slowly and quietly along in a small 
canoe. The arrows, for that purpose, have a peculiar 
construction, being composed of two pieces, one of reed of 
the length of a common arrow forming the shaft ; the 
other of very hard wood, to which an iron point is fixed. 
The wooden piece is inserted into the reed in such a man- 
ner as to separate from it in consequence of the movements 
of the fish which has been hit ; when the former remains 
in the body of the fish, the latter, attached to it by a 
thread, swims on the water. The whole arrow is about 
six feet long. The iron points are of English manufacture, 
imported from Bluefields. Fish seemed to be a principal 
nourishment of these people. But the country is rich in 
game of all sorts. Manatees are in the river, tapirs in the 
thickets on its banks, deer, rabbits, cavias, pheasants, 
curassows, partridges, &c, everywhere in the bush and on 
the savana. 

From an old man, who seemed to be the head of the 
family and tolerably well understood the Spanish language, 



Chap. VIII. THE WOOLWA LANGUAGE. 133 

I succeeded in collecting a number of words and gram- 
matical forms of the language of the tribe. On returning 
to New York I communicated this vocabulary to my friend 
Mr. Squier, who published it in his valuable work on 
Nicaragua, where it is to be found vol. ii. pp. 324, 325. 
In his preface Mr. Squier states that, according to subse- 
quent investigations, my vocabulary is of the Wbolwa 
language. Having no doubt as to the correctness of this 
statement, I have adopted it as a fact that the tribe to 
which the family I saw belonged were Wbolwas, though 
they did not mention that word when I asked them for 
their name as a nation. In answer to my questions on 
this point, they said their appellation was Bey-King, by 
which, no doubt, it was their intention to show their loyalty 
to the sovereign of Bluefields. The whole tribe, I was 
told, could muster four hundred adult males under a chief 
of their own, who was well spoken of by Don Tomas. 
The fact, however, of the vocabulary which I collected 
being of the Woolwa dialect, does not diminish the interest 
attached to it as a specimen of what is probably the old 
Chondal language of Oviedo and other early writers. This 
probability I am going to show. 

By the Nicaraguans these Indians are called Caribes ; 
but no importance is to be attached to this denomination. 
The Caribs of the Mosquito territory and of British Hon- 
duras, as is well known, are of West Indian origin, having 
been transplanted, in 1796, from the island of St. Vincent 
to Kuatan, and afterwards to Honduras, whence they have 
spread over the whole extent of coast from Cape Gracias a 
Dios to Belize. Now, my investigations have elucidated 
the fact that the Indian population of a village, called 
Lovago, are of the same race with the Wool was, and as that 
village, like another called Lovigisca, both situated a few 



134 - POPULATION OF LOVAGO. Book I. 

miles distant from Acoyapa, has existed, and its inhabitants 
have been Christians long before the time of the transmi- 
gration of the Caribs, it is beyond any doubt that the appli- 
cation of the name of the latter to the tribe of the Woolwas 
is erroneous. As to the Indians of Ldvago, one of my 
travelling companions, Dr. Bernharcl, who was called to 
visit a sick person in that village, brought me the informa- 
tion that all the words of my Woolwa vocabulary, with 
the exception of one only, were understood at Ldvago, 
though the Indian dialect of the village was nearly extinct. 
From this fact we may conclude that the whole Indian 
population of Chontales, in the whole or in part, were of 
the same race with the Woolwas. Mr. Squier has dis- 
covered certain traces of affinity between the language of 
the Woolwas and that of other tribes farther to the north 
and north-west, to whom he has applied the general appella- 
tion of the Lenca race. Thus the name Boswas, or " the 
three rivers," derived from the Woolwa language, corre- 
sponds to the names Amacwas and Was-presinia, which 
are those of two tributaries of the Patuca. 1 

From all these particulars it is probable that the old 
Chontales Indians, who, according to Oviedo, spoke one of 
the five Indian dialects of Nicaragua, were the same race 
as the Lencas of Mr. Squier — a race spread all over Mos- 
quitia and part of the State of Honduras. 

One fact seems to oppose this opinion. The people of 
Ldvago, in their conversation with my travelling com- 
panion, stated that their ancestors, as well as those of the 
inhabitants of the little town of Camoapan, about sixty 
miles to the north-west, had come from the neighbourhood 
of Masaya. It is not very probable that this statement 



1 Squier, * The States of Central America.' London, 1858, p. 247. 



Chap. VIII. AZTEC COLONIES. 135 

should refer to the time before the arrival of the Spaniards. 
But even if this should be the case, it never could have any 
other meaning than that some colonies of the more civilized 
nations of Nicaragua had settled amongst the ruder tribes 
of Chontales, and that those of Lovago had sprung from a 
mixture of both; for even now the latter speak of the 
Wool was as of their own people in its original condition, 
and with the manners and customs still preserved which 
had once been their own. 

The question may be put whether those colonies were of 
the Aztec or of the Chorotegan element in the Nicaraguan 
population. That they came from the vicinity of Masaya 
says nothing, as both races were and still are neighbours in 
that section of the country. The fact that many of the 
local names of Chontales are derived from the Aztec 
language seems to decide the question, though that fact 
may appear by far too general to bear directly upon it. 
Aztec local names are scattered almost over the whole of 
Central America, in regions where no other vestiges of 
any historical influence of the race can be shown. These 
names must be considered as the monuments either of an 
old and far-ascending Aztec rule, or of the migrations of 
certain fragments of the Aztec race such as afterwards 
settled on the isthmus of Rivas and on the islands of the 
lake, or they mark the site of old mercantile colonies of the 
Aztecs, such as we know from the early historians this 
energetic nation was in the habit of establishing amongst 
the tribes of the adjoining regions. Thus, in Chontales, 
Matagalpa, and Nuevo Segovia, where the Aztecs are not 
known to have ever been established as a nation, we find 
geographical names such as Panaloyan, Acoyapa, Camoa- 
pan, Comalapa, Tecolostote, Matagalpa, Juygalpa, Toto- 
galpa, Teustepet, and many others, all Aztec words, most 



136 THE CHONTALES. Book I. 

of which have been translated by Mr. Buschmann in his 
essay on Aztec local names. 

Even the name of Chontales, or Chondales — an appella- 
tion which repeatedly occurs in Mexican and Central 
American history and ethnology — is of the Aztec origin, 
and there is little doubt that in the old Indian times of 
Nicaragua it was used to designate the Woolwas and others 
of the ruder tribes which still inhabit the country to the 
north-east of the lake, and most probably all belong to the 
Lenca race. Chontalli, according to Mr. Buschmann, in 
the Aztec language, means a foreigner, and consequently 
an uncivilized man, like the Greek fiapfBapos and the 
Sanskrit mletscha. The country of Chon tales, therefore, 
means the country of the savages. The same name is 
given to a mountainous district in the State of San Salvador, 
where Aztecs likewise lived in the vicinity of other tribes 
less advanced in civilization. Tribes, called Chontales, are 
mentioned by the Mexican historians as existing near Tlas- 
cala, in Oaxaca and Tabasco. When the Tlascaltecs 
made their submission to Cortes, they stated that the fault 
of the hostilities committed lay with the wild tribes of the 
mountains, the Otomis and Chontales. Thus the word 
has a very general signification ; but if, in Nicaragua, it 
was used in reference to a distinct nation and language, 
there is not the slightest reason to suppose that this nation 
and language should not have been identical with the 
Woolwas of the present time, and the same of which Dr. 
Bernhard found the descendants in the village of Ldvago, 
though here they may have been mixed with a colony of 
Aztecs. 

From the inhabitants of the village just named, Dr. 
Bernhard received some information concerning the old 
manners of the race, in giving which they invariably 



Chap. VIII. MANNEKS OF THE WOOLWAS. 137 

identified themselves with the Indians of the table-land. 
At Ldvago, they said, little remained of the customs of 
old ; bat with the people of the interior — "por dentro" — 
the ancient manners had been left unchanged. These latter 
are living in a state of polygamy ; but a man has never 
more than three wives, who in most cases occupy separate 
dwellings, and usually have a great number of children. 
When a young man intends to marry he kills a deer, 
which, with a quantity of firewood, he places before the 
door of the girl. If she accepts this present the marriage 
takes place. When the husband dies the wife cuts her 
hair and burns the hut, and the same is done vice versa. 
The dead are buried with all their property, and for a 
certain time some gruel of maize is daily placed on the 
grave. At certain times of the year they celebrate festivals 
or perform ceremonies at which no stranger nor any of 
their women and children are admitted. On these occa- 
sions they pretend " to dance with tbeir god " — bailan con 
su Dios de ellos, as the alcalde of Acoyapa expressed it. 
This they do, singing at the same time with a loud voice. 
At these festivals certain feats of gymnastics are performed, 
each of them jumping over the next ; the jumping man, 
at the same time, deals the other a blow over the shoulders, 
and if the latter does not show signs of being affected by 
the pain, he is acknowledged as an "hombre valiente" — 
one of the braves. Similar customs have been observed 
amongst various tribes belonging to races and countries 
widely different and distant from each other: they are of 
little interest. I would, however, not omit these particulars, 
as they are well calculated to convey an idea of the mental 
development of this people. 

The next day I returned to Acoyapa, and on the 28th 
we left that place on our wav back to Granada. As it 



138 HACIENDA OF SAN JOSE. Book I. 

was our intention to return by water, we took the road to 
the landing-place of San Ubaldo, which may be called the 
port of Acoyapa. 

On this trip we passed some days on the hacienda of 
San Jose, the owner of which, Don Luciano de la Cuadra, 
received us with perfect hospitality. We had to wait 
here for a passage to Granada until the 3rd of June, there 
being but little intercourse across the lake in this direction. 
The time was spent in walks and rambles in the vicinity 
of the house, partly from a desire to satisfy our curiosity, 
partly from the more serious inducement to improve the 
fare of our dinner table. The hacienda of Don Luciano, 
according to the true Chontales style, was a mere cattle- 
farm, without the slightest agricultural improvement. Not 
even bananas or plantains were cultivated, and a few 
goyol-palms, together with two or three orange-trees, repre- 
sented all the productions of the vegetable kingdom on 
this extensive and splendid estate. Bread is not known 
in Nicaraguan country places, and even at Granada it was 
only eaten by a few foreigners, all the other inhabitants 
contenting themselves with tortillas. Our host had several 
thousand cows on the savanas around his habitation, but 
he had neither milk nor butter. He ordered a cow to be 
killed the day after our arrival ; but as meat will scarcely 
remain fresh for a day in that climate, especially during 
the rainy season, which had now set in, the eatable parts 
of the animal were cut into slices to be dried in the air 
during the intervals between the different showers that fell 
throughout the day. The vultures carried away half of it 
before our eyes, and what remained, and was brought to us for 
dinner the next two or three days, was of a haut-gout rather 
too strong for our taste. We tried to supply our table by 
shooting doves and quails, of which there were numbers 



Chap, VIII. NICAKAGUAN CUKASSOWS. 139 

everywhere ; but both were of a diminutive size ; and the 
former in particular were such beautiful little creatures 
that we soon discontinued our sport. There are three 
kinds of very small pigeons common in Nicaragua. One 
of them, called the Cola-larga, or long-tail, is of an ashy 
colour, and the size of a small thrush or common black- 
bird ; the two others, called Tortola and Carmelita, are 
smaller still ; and the latter, which is scarcely as large as 
a common lark, has some round spots of a splendid blue 
on the wings. There was no want of larger game in the 
vicinity, especially of the different kinds of curassows — 
large birds of the size of a small turkey, and, according to 
my opinion, amongst the most delicate wild-fowl which 
exists. One of the species, common in Nicaragua, is 
called Pavon, or Pajuil, and seems to be the Crax 
Alector. Another is of a very fine plumage, reddish- 
brown with wmite spots, somewhat similar to the banded 
curassow, or Crax fasciolata. A third, which is the most 
common of the three, is of a greyish black, and is called 
Pava. This is often stated to be the female of the pavon, 
but the opinion is erroneous, the pava not even appearing 
to belong to the same genus as the pavon, and having 
more the character of a Penelope or Salpiza. I shot 
several of these birds during our stay at the hacienda of 
San Jose ; but the cook always ate the breast and left us 
the bones ; and as we were the guests of the house we 
could not complain of this impudence, which seems to be 
the general fashion in Central America. 

On one of my walks at San Jose I shot a small kind of 
eagle, or rather Harpy, carrying one of the large green 
parrots called Lora in its claws. It was a bird of prey of 
the proudest appearance, of the most ferocious valour, and 
of an incredible tenacity of life. With the exception of 



140 A WHITE HARPY. Book I. 

the long feathers of the wings and tail, which were of a 
dark-bluish grey, the whole bird was of the purest white. 
Its legs were covered with feathers to the toes, which were 
armed with the most formidable claws, very long, of semi- 
circular form, and sharp as needles. Its head was large 
and broad like that of an owl, with long feathers in the 
neck, which being erected gave the bird a most savage 
aspect. Its eyes were very large, with yellow iris ; and 
the indomitable courage in their expression only died 
away with the extinction of life. I had to crush almost 
every bone of the chest of this animal before it was dead. 

On the 3rd of June we were informed that a bongo had 
arrived at San Ubaldo, and was going to sail for Granada 
in the evening. In this we took a passage, and arrived at 
home the next morning. Our horses had been sent back 
by land. 



Chap. IX. POLITICAL AFFAIKS IN NICARAGUA. 141 



CHAPTEE IX. 

State of Political Affairs in Nicaragua — The different Parties — Interference 
of Foreign Interests — The Canal Project and the Accessory Transit 
Company — Outbreak of the Civil War of 1851 — The Author hastens to 
Leon — Insecurity of the Eoad — The Aristocracy of Science and Virtue — 
Arrival at Leon — The Leonese Government protests against the Contract 
with the Transit Company — General MuSoz, his Character, his Party 
Position, and his Death — Character, Political Career, and Death of Fruto 
Chamorro — The Author returns to Granada, and thence to the United 
States. 

During the rambles which have been the subject of the 
foregoing chapters, the political horizon of Nicaragua had 
darkened more and more, and in the first days of August 
one of those revolutions broke out by which several of the 
Spanish- American republics have gradually ruined them- 
selves. These civil wars and dissensions reflect a sad 
picture, and it may appear an unprofitable task to direct 
the reader's attention to such occurrences. Their interest, 
however, might be easily underrated ; and the author is of 
opinion that he should not pass over a page of American 
history but imperfectly known and understood by those 
who have not been present on the spot, and still less a 
page containing particulars of certain far-reaching practical 
consequences. 

When, on the separation of the Central Amerian pro- 
vinces from Spain, the Royalists associated themselves in 
a revolutionary movement which they were unable to 
resist, they did so in the secret hope of establishing a 
Central American monarchy. Their political opponents, 
on the other side, aimed at a republican confederacy, after 
the model of the North American Union. The latter 



142 STATE OF POLITICAL AFFAIRS Book I. 

succeeded, The Royalists, unwilling to submit, asked the 
assistance of the ephemeral Mexican Emperor Iturbide ; 
and when, in consequence of this application, a Mexican 
army entered Guatemala, the fugitive Republican Con- 
gress decreed the annexation of Central America to the 
United States. The shortness of Iturbide's career relieved 
the country from the necessity of choosing between the 
two annexations, either to the then existing empire of 
Mexico or to the North American Union. But that 
decree of annexation to the United States decided the 
character of the interference of foreign powers in the 
domestic affairs of Central America ; and all the subse- 
quent phases of political dissension and civil war in that 
unfortunate country, down to William Walker, who was 
called in by the remnants of the same party which, in 
1822, decreed the annexation to the United States, take 
their origin from that desperate position of parties in the 
first year of independence. From that date it was decided 
that thenceforth Central America should be a prey to 
foreign influences — that the royalists or aristocrats, called 
"serviles," had to look to England; the republicans or 
democrats, called " liberales," to the United States, for 
sympathy and support in their struggle. for pow T er, and the 
realization of their political system. From that time also 
throughout Central America, the former might be called 
the English, the latter the American party ; and as the 
latter were those who established, supported, defended, 
and, after its having been overturned, strove to restore the 
federal constitution and government, British influence in 
Central America, as a matter of course, directed itself 
against all federal tendencies. 

From causes which do not enter into the subject of 
this rapid glance over the history of Central American 



Chap. IX. IN NICARAGUA. 143 

federalism, these anti-federal influences have been strongest 
in Guatemala and Costarica; while in the three remaining 
States, the federal party continued to strive against them 
and to aim at the reconstruction of the Union dissolved in 
1837. Various attempts to realize that purpose had been 
made by Nicaragua, Salvador, and Honduras, and con- 
ventions of delegates, instructed to frame a new constitu- 
tion, had been held at Chinandega in Nicaragua in 1842, 
at Sonsonate in Salvador in 1846, and at Nacaome in 
Honduras in 1847, without leading to any result; when, 
in 1849, the influence of the United States was brought to 
bear upon the question. The government of Washington 
instructed its diplomatic agent in Central America to 
assist those republics in their endeavours to re-establish the 
federation ; and encouraged by him, the State of Nicaragua 
took the lead in a new attempt. As in former cases, 
Guatemala and Costarica excluded themselves from the 
common cause of Central American nationality. But the 
representatives of the three middle States assembled at 
Leon and drew up a federal constitution which was signed 
on the 8th of November, unanimously ratified by the 
legislative assemblies of the same three States and published 
in the Correo del Istmo of the 16th of December, 1849. 
In accordance with this constitution, the representatives of 
the three States assembled in the month of December of 
the following year, and Jose Barrundia, who had been the 
President of the Central American Republic of 1821, 
was elected President of the new confederation. General 
elections were ordered to take place of representatives 
to the first regular national congress, to assemble in 
December, 1851, and participation in which was left open 
to Guatemala and Costarica. 

To frustrate the success of these labours, has been one 



141 FOREIGN INFLUENCES. Book I. 

of the principal motives by which certain foreign influences 
were actuated in promoting the revolutionary outbreak of 
1851 in Nicaragua. To frustrate the endeavours of the 
Accessory Transit Company — that metamorphosis of the 
Atlantic and Pacific Ship Canal Company of New York — 
was another motive of almost equal weight with the same 
foreign influences. Both motives, by the peculiar turn 
which things had taken in Nicaragua, came into conflict 
with each other ; the federalists of Leon being precisely 
that of the two Nicaraguan parties which was opposed to 
the new contract demanded by the Accessory Transit 
Company. But before I enter on a few explanatory 
remarks with reference to this view of the matter, I have 
to add some facts of interest by which the history of that 
last attempt to form a Central American nationality is 
brought down to the moment when I left Nicaragua— the 
more so as these facts seem to have remained unnoticed in 
some political transactions of a more general significance. 
To Mr. Guerrero, one of the members of the then existing 
federal government, I am indebted for the original docu- 
ments of which the following statements are an abstract. 

The federal, or, as it was called, the national govern- 
ment, with Mr. Barrundia at its head, was installed on the 
9th of January, 1851, and the fact communicated to the 
political agents of all foreign powers represented in any of 
the Central American States. By the n^w federal com- 
pact the three States of the confederation had given up 
the right of entertaining separate intercourse with foreign 
powers, all diplomatic relation having been ceded to the 
national government. The three States of the confedera- 
tion, accordingly, broke off their diplomatic intercourse. 
By the State of Nicaragua, in particular, this was done by 
a decree of its legislative assembly dated the 31st of May, 



Chap. IX. FOKEIGN INFLUENCES. 145 

and by a circular note to the foreign powers with whom it 
had been in political relations, dated June 4th. And in 
a communication, dated June 10th, the national govern- 
ment was informed by Nicaragua that this State had 
fulfilled its federal duties in that respect, and Mr. Mar- 
coleta, who, till then, had been accredited as Charge 
d' Affaires of the republic of Nicaragua to the government of 
Washington, was recommended to the same position under 
the authority of the national government of Central America. 
It is a remarkable fact that on this occasion England 
and the United States took the same view of the question, 
both concurring in not taking any notice of these com- 
munications, nor of the existence of the new Central 
American confederation in general, though it had been 
formed under the influence of the latter of the two powers. 
The government of President Taylor had given place to 
that of President Fillmore, and with the change of ad- 
ministration a change of system in reference to Central 
American affairs had also occurred at Washington. 
When, in July, the diplomatic agent, who was to follow 
Mr. Squier in Central America, was sent out by the 
government of the United States, he insisted upon being 
received by the government of Nicaragua and obstinately 
refused to enter into any communications with the national 
government. The British Consul General did the same. 
To the official communication of the establishment and 
inauguration of that government he gave no answer, and 
in a confidential letter to one of the ministers, he used the 
most undiplomatic language which, as far as I know, is on 
record in the history of modern international transactions. 1 



1 A copy of the letter of Mr. Frede- 
rick Chatfield to Mr. Pablo Buitrago, 
then one of the members of the national 
government, was communicated to me 



by Mr. Guerrero, another member of 
that government, in the presence and 
with the consent of his colleague. It 
is dated : Legacion de S. M. B„ Gua- 



146 



DIFFERENT PARTIES IN NICARAGUA. 



Book I. 



In this hopeless state of federal affairs, the revolution 
of which I am going to speak in connexion with my last 
movements in Nicaragua, broke out at Leon.. 

As in the other States of Central America the parties in 
Nicaragua, though subordinate to the more general distinc- 
tions of which I have just traced the origin, had developed 
themselves according to certain local conditions. Here the 
aristocratic party, anti-federal as in all the States, had been 
called, by a popular name, the Timbucos, while the demo- 
crats had received the designation of Calandracas — the 
latter name derived, if I am not mistaken, from Calandra, 
the lark, meaning to express that the party was that of the 
poor who live like the birds of the fields. The former party 
had their head-quarters in the city of Granada, the latter 
in that of Leon, and thus the political division was of a 
sectional character. The Timbucos, therefore, in the re- 
cords of Nicaraguan events, have been often called the 
Granadinos, their antagonists the Leonese ; and as the 
most distinguished leader of the latter at the time of which 
I am going to speak more in particular, was Fruto Cha- 
morro, they assumed at that special period the name of 
the Chamorristas. The names Timbucos, Granadinos, 
and Chamorristas, therefore, are different appellations of 
the same party, which is the Nicaraguan fraction of what 
might most appropriately be called the conservative party 
of Central America. In 1849, while the liberals held the 
reins of government, the conservatives of Granada and Rivas 
made an attempt to wrest them from their hands by incit- 
ing an insurrection of the Indians. A man named Samoza, 



tcmala, 13 de Junio, 1851. As it is not 
the intention of the author to enter 
more deeply into the matter here, he 
contents himself with remarking that 
he published that interesting document, 



in its original Spanish, in a note to p. 449 
of the first volume of the German edition 
of the present work, ' Aus Amerika. 
Von Julius Frobel. Leipzig, 1857-1858.' 



Chap. IX. DIFFERENT PARTIES IN NICARAGUA. 147 

who had been at the head of a band of highway robbers, 
but had some chivalrous traits in his character, was their 
instrument in attempting to effect this purpose. But when 
Samoza, who rapidly made himself master of the whole 
district of Nicaragua Proper, and occupied Rivas with his 
Indians, showed that he was about to imitate Carrera after 
the Timbucos of Nicaragua had imitated the " Serviles " 
of Guatemala, a general consternation pervaded the party 
who had stirred up the insurrection ; and they were the 
first to call on the government for protection against an 
impending general calamity. General Muiioz, at the head 
of a military force, hastened from Leon to Rivas, where, 
after a hot fight in the streets and houses, he routed the 
insurgents, who had sacked the city, and Samoza was 
taken prisoner and executed. 

This happened shortly before my arrival in Nicaragua, 
and the result had produced a general disposition to forget 
old animosities and establish the prosperity of the country 
on the basis of mutual justice and toleration. This was the 
spirit which presided over the election of the new Director 
Supremo, Mr. Pineda. It was, however, impossible, under 
existing circumstances, that the parties should keep the 
peace for any length of time. 

Amongst the prominent men of the democratic party, the 
most formidable to the Conservatives was General Munoz, 
commander-in-chief of the troops of the Republic. They 
hated him because the military force of the country was in 
his hands, which, however, he had not made use of in any 
unlawful manner — because he was in favour of innovations 
and reforms that were disliked by them, or threatened 
to curtail their interests — because he was a strong sup- 
porter of all federal tendencies, and from various other 
reasons. But the General, at the same time, had been 

l 2 



148 THE CANAL PROJECT Book I. 

opposed to British influence, and though he was on good 
private terms with the more influential Englishmen living 
at Leon, he had reasons to consider them as his enemies. 
Now the interests of a society of speculators as powerful 
as the Atlantic and Pacific Ship-Canal Company came in 
conflict with his views on a question of national economy, 
and thus losing the support of the American influence he 
seemed unable to resist the combined attacks of his 
adversaries. 

The interference of the Canal Company marks a new 
period in the history of Central American troubles and 
dissensions. Be it that the results of the survey had been 
less favourable than had been expected, or that the want of 
sympathy which the enterprise had found with the capitalists 
of London had produced the effect; at any rate the Canal 
Company had formed the conviction that it would be an 
advantageous transaction to get rid of the obligation of 
opening a navigable communication between the two oceans 
across Central America, without losing the available part 
of the immense monopolies and privileges awarded for the 
realization of the great work. With the view to obtain 
this result an accessory contract w T as proposed to Nica- 
ragua by the Company, who were to constitute themselves 
in the capacity of holders of this second contract under the 
name of the Accessory Transit Company. The obliga- 
tions of the latter were to be, to open a carriage-road across 
the Isthmus of Bivas, and to supply the necessary means 
for the transit across Nicaragua, on this road, as well as on 
the river and lake. For fulfilling this obligation, together 
with some financial engagements, the Company were to 
have the monopoly of steam-navigation and various other 
valuable advantages. 

Munoz and the whole democratic party, actuated by 



Chap. IX. AND THE ACCESSOKY TRANSIT COMPANY. 



149 



patriotic as well as . sectional views, were opposed to the 
granting of the transit contract, while their political adver- 
saries at Granada and Rivas, situated so as to derive im- 
mediate advantages from the transit through the southern 
section of the country, were inclined to yield to the argu- 
ments of the friends and agents of the Company. Thus 
certain American interests, sufficiently strong to act upon 
the government of the United States, became associated 
with a Nicaraguan party which had always been considered 
as peculiarly inclined to enter into English views. And 
while thus American interests in Nicaragua were in conflict 
with themselves the same was the case with British in- 
terests in the country. These, of course, were decidedly 
opposed to the transit scheme. If the canal, as it now 
appeared, was not to be constructed, and if the transit 
project could be frustrated, there would be some hope to 
drive the Yankees out of the field in Nicaragua, and " to 
free so desirable a spot in the commercial world from 
the competition of so adventurous a race as the North 
Americans." 1 To produce this effect was the object of 
all who were in the British interest in Nicaragua ; and 
thus it happened that these same agencies found reasons to 
support the Leonese party, with General Munoz, in their 
opposition to the transit contract. 

President Pineda, though belonging to the party of 
Granada and Rivas, was of the opinion of his political 
antagonists in this particular question. The intrigues of 
the New York speculators accordingly turned against him, 
and by a combination of various interests brought into 



1 See No. 9, p. 40, of the 'Docu- 
mentos relativos a la legacion de los 
estados de Nicaragua y Honduras cerca 
el gabinete Britanico, sobre el territorio 
de Mosquitos y puerto de San Juan del 



Norte. Los publica el Senor Don Fran- 
cisco Castellon, Ministro Plenipoten- 
ciario y Enviado Extraordinario de 
dichos estados. Granada, 1851.' There 
is an English edition likewise. 



150 OUTBREAK OF THE CIVIL WAR. Book I. 

simultaneous action, he and his government were driven 
from office. A revolution broke out at Leon in the 
night between the 3rd and 4th of August, and a provi- 
sional government, with the senator Justo Abaunza at its 
head, was established. At Managua the legislature of the 
State was assembled at that time. When the news of what 
had happened at Leon reached them, that body, following 
the advice of the agent of the American Company, elected 
a provisional government of their own with Jose del Mon- 
tenegro at its head, and removed to Granada. At the 
latter place a few hundred troops were assembled, and the 
command was given to Fruto Chamorro, while at Leon 
Munoz was preparing to march on Granada. Nicaragua 
had thus two governments and two armies ready to fight 
each other. The agent of the Canal Company knew how to 
avail himself of these troubles, and on the 19th of August 
the contract of the Accessory Transit Company was ratified 
by the Legislative Assembly sitting at Granada. The 
day after having put his signature to the instrument, the 
provisional director, Montenegro, died. The confusion 
at Granada became general. As the foreigners living 
in that city almost unanimously sympathised with the 
Leonese party, they were summoned by the authorities in 
power at Granada to deliver their arms, to enter the 
ranks of the troops to be employed against the Leonese, 
or to leave the country. At a meeting, of almost all the 
foreigners then at Granada, it was determined to refuse 
compliance with all these three requests, to organize for 
mutual protection, and to resist by force, if necessity 
should occur, all attempts to infringe upon their neutral 
position in the civil war which was impending. In the 
mean time public excitement and anxiety increased. On 
one side it was stated that the Leonese under Munoz were 



Chap. IX. THE AUTHOR HASTENS TO LEON. 151 

approaching ; on the other it was asserted that General 
Guardiola — the tiger of Honduras, as he had been called 
— was coming in aid of Granada, though his Indian cut- 
throats were feared more, even as friends, than the Leonese 
as enemies. Barricades were erected in the streets. One 
of my German friends who, when emigrating to Nicaragua, 
had taken with him a flag with the old German colours, 
striped black, red and gold — an ideal banner of German 
nationality — hoisted it over the gate of his house. Who 
would believe it, that the colours of the German empire, 
past or future, could have inspired some ladies of Granada 
with absolute confidence, and that soon the rooms of my 
friend were filled with cases and boxes containing the more 
valuable portion of the moveable property of the good 
senoras ! 

Such was the state of things at Granada, when, to hold 
a conversation with General Munoz, I started on a hasty 
trip to Leon. A young German accompanied me. It 
was in the evening of the 21st of August, and just in the 
very moment when we mounted our horses a drummer was 
beating through the streets, and an order issued that no one 
should leave the city without a special permission and pass- 
port from the " Comandante." We set spurs to our 
horses and never drew rein till we had reached Masaya. 

To protect Granada against a sudden attack of the 
Leonese, the Granadinos under Chamorro had taken pos- 
session of Managua. The " army " .consisted of 200 men, 
at the utmost ; but the road was covered with soldiers and 
recruits hastening to join him. We had taken our break- 
fast at Managua the next morning, and were ready to 
proceed, when a man in a dressing-gown and nightcap, 
followed by an officer in uniform, appeared, and subjected 
us to an interrogatory in reference to our journey. We 



152 GENERAL MUNOZ. Book I. 

were allowed to pass. " Who was the man in undress ? " 
I asked the waiter. "El general del ejercito ! " answered 
the boy, with importance. It was Don Fruto Chamorro 
himself, who, since I had had a dispute with him at 
Rivas, had become general of the Granadinos, and soon 
afterwards became President of Nicaragua. Undoubtedly 
he recognized me, and knew that what I answered to his 
questions was untrue. But he behaved with perfect 
politeness. 

The country between Managua and Leon, at that time, 
was in a very unsettled state, and the roads were infested 
by deserters and stragglers from both parties. While 
passing through the forest between Managua and Mateares 
I had advanced ahead of my companion for a quarter of a 
mile, and was just trying to lead my horse over a narrow 
and slippery path between the trees on one side and a deep 
mud-hole on the other, when two men, each of them with 
a pistol in one hand and one of the long and heavy knives 
called machete in the other, stepped forward from the 
thicket. To turn my horse was impossible. I drew and 
cocked a pistol, and thus, without a word being spoken on 
either side, I passed on. When I had cleared the mud- 
hole, I turned to wait for my companion, after which the 
two fellows disappeared in the bush. General Munoz, to 
v/hom I narrated the fact, asked me why I had not shot 
them down. " What business had the ruffians to stand at 
the road-side in the forest with arms in hand ? " he said, 
when I objected that they had made no attack upon me. 
It was one of the merits of the general that under his 
influence the country had enjoyed a degree of security un- 
known before as well as after his time. 

The next day, while resting a few hours at Pueblo 
Nuevo, one of those violent thunderstorms broke out 



Chap. IX. A THUNDERSTORM. 153 

which are not uncommon in this western part of the coun- 
try during the rainy season. The eastern and western sides 
of Nicaragua, and, I believe, of Central America in 
general, are very different in this respect. The whole 
western coast of the Continent, from Nicaragua to the 
Peninsula of California, is frequently visited by thunder- 
storms of a frightful violence. Mazatlan, for instance, is 
ill-reputed for this feature of its climate ; while at San 
Francisco, on the contrary, thunderstorms are of rare 
occurrence, and not very heavy. In our case, we had 
reason to congratulate ourselves on having reached a 
shelter before it broke out. The flashes of lightning were 
most frightful, and the claps of thunder altogether appal- 
ling. The rain poured down so densely that it seemed 
doubtful whether a man could breathe in such an atmos- 
phere. The house we had entered was inhabited by a 
widow and her two daughters. As soon as we had 
alighted, the curate of the village, curious to see the 
foreign travellers, hastened to pay a visit to the ladies ; 
and now, while heavy strokes of lightning fell in every 
direction on the trees of the forest, the trembling women 
looked to the priest for consolation, and the young divine 
availed himself of the opportunity of showing his superior 
information. " When I was a boy," he said, " I too was 
afraid of thunder and lightning. But since that time I 
have studied philosophy "—a terrible clap — " Ave Maria 
santisima ! — and our professor has taught us that the 
heavenly bodies are too high up to fall down upon us." 
Another clap — "Jesu Cristo, mi mejor pararayo J" The 
next stroke drove the trembling padre into a dark room, 
where the women had taken refuge, and as long as the 
storm lasted we heard their loud and pious " or a pro 
nobis ; " but scarcely had it passed away, and the thunder 



154 NICARAGUA^" CURATE. Book I. 

was heard from a certain distance, when the philosophical 
curate, followed by the widow and her daughters, issued 
forth from their place of concealment, and calling a little 
boy who passed by : " Juan ! " he said, in a tone of mental 
superiority, "go quickly to my mother and tell her she 
need not be frightened, there is no danger at all." 

While waiting till the waters had subsided on the roads, 
we had the advantage of a prolonged conversation with this 
enlightened member of the Nicaraguan clergy. He had a 
small English volume in his pocket, and tried his utmost to 
prove that he could read it. He asked me for an explana- 
tion of the different meanings of the word u sir" " I 
understand," he said, after I had answered his questions, 
"In England they have an aristocracy, but in Nicaragua 
no aristocracy exists besides that of science and virtue — en 
Nicaragua no hay otra nobleza que de la eiencia y de la 
virtu." 

At Leon I appeared as the bearer of important intel- 
ligence. They knew nothing there of what had happened 
at Granada. I could tell them that the transit contract 
had been ratified, that Montenegro was dead, and that 
Chamorro had taken possession of Managua. The first of 
these news made a strong impression upon the Englishmen 
residing at Leon, with whom General Munoz was now the 
man for the situation of the moment. 

With the general himself the paramount interest was 
entirely of a military character. When I told him that 
Chamorro was concentrating his forces at Managua, he 
triumphantly remarked : " here I shall have an opportunity 
of demonstrating some superior military tactics — aqui 
puedo yo hacer unas qperaciones muy militares ; " and he 
proceeded to explain how he could send troops by sea from 
Realejo to San Juan del Sur, whence they could pass to 



Chap. IX. DEPAETUEE FEOM LEON. . 155 

Eivas and take that city, as well as Granada, by surprise ; 
or how he could despatch them in canoes over the lake of 
Managua, land them at Tipitapa, and again take Granada 
by surprise ; and other stratagems of equal depth in military 
science. Poor general ! he had neither a vessel for the sea- 
passage of his troops, nor canoes for the lake, nor troops 
to spare, nor money to pay them ; though certain foreigners 
at Leon had loudly proclaimed that they would supply the 
necessary funds. 

Late in the evening before my departure from Leon, 
which took place on the 27th, the General came to see me 
in the hotel, handing me a package of documents and dis- 
patches which I was requested by the provisional govern- 
ment to take with me to the United States. Some of them 
were intended to be delivered to the government of Wash- 
ington ; others to be published in the principal journals of 
the Union. The most important of the papers was a formal 
protest of the provisional government of Leon, against the 
contract which that of Granada had entered into with the 
Accessory Transit Company of New York. In this pro- 
test the Leonese government took the unobjectionable 
ground that, if during a civil war a foreigner enters into 
an agreement with one of the parties, he makes his rights 
and claims dependent upon the fate of the party on which 
he thinks proper to rely ; the Leonese government declar- 
ing in advance, that they would not recognize the contract 
entered into by their political antagonists, if ever the 
undivided and legal authority over the State should fall into 
their hands. 

It was the last time that I saw the General, who had 
become my warm friend. I intended, after a short visit to 
the United States, to return to Nicaragua. But soon after 
I had reached New York, the news arrived that Leon had 



156 WILLIAM WALKER — MUNOZ. Book I. 

been taken by the Granadinos. Munoz had become the 
prisoner of Chamorro, and would have been shot, but for 
the interference of his English friends, who succeeded in 
commuting his sentence of death into banishment from the 
State. Of all the ;c operaciones muy militares " none had 
been executed. After the capture of Leon, Chamorro was 
regularly elected Supreme Director of the State by the 
concurrence of both sections of the country. He was mag- 
nanimous enough to recal his adversary from exile, and 
intrust him anew with the command of the troops of the 
State 5 and Mufioz was sufficiently ungrateful again to take 
side with the Leonese party when they revolted against the 
government of Chamorro in 1854. In this respect Cha- 
morro proved himself the better man and the nobler 
character. The Leonese, on that occasion, placed Francisco 
Castellon at the head of their oppositional government, 
and with him Munoz once more became one of the chiefs 
of that party. Chamorro attacked Leon a second time, 
but was driven back to Granada, followed by the Leonese, 
who besieged that city, but were obliged to retreat in turn. 
In this impossibility of deciding the fate of the country, 
Castellon and his friends, amongst whom was Munoz, 
called in the aid of William Walker. When the latter, 
on his first attack upon Rivas, was deserted by the native 
troops placed under his command, Munoz was said to have 
acted as a traitor to his North American auxiliaries, though 
the question may be raised, which of the two — the North 
Americans or the Nicaraguans — first thought of using the 
others as an instrument for their own purposes ? In the 
mean time the Leonese government was attacked by a 
force from Honduras. Munoz marched against and com- 
pletely routed these invaders, but he found his death in the 
engagement. 



Chap. IX. DEATH OF CHAMOKKO. 157 

Though he had many defects in his character, the gene- 
ral Jose Trinidad Munoz was the most enlightened man of 
his time in Nicaragua. He knew that his country, and 
Central America in general, could only be redeemed by 
the aid of foreign elements of population from Europe and 
North America. He had all the ambition which might be 
expected in a Spanish American general, and according to 
his system a military government was the most adapted to 
the condition of society in Nicaragua. But if he had 
been in possession of absolute power he would have used it 
to advance the interests of the country. To dispose of the 
public lands in favour of immigration, to promote the 
naturalization of foreigners, to introduce complete religious 
toleration, to establish a system of public education, to 
secularize the so-called " capellanias " — and in any way to 
concur in the re-establish nient of the Central American 
federation — were amongst the political measures he had in 
view. 

At Managua, on my way back to Granada, his antago- 
nist, again in the nightcap, inspected and interrogated me 
a second time. At this interview I had to risk more than 
on the former occasion, but General Chamorro acted again 
in a very gentlemanlike manner, and everything passed on 
without difficulty. 

Fruto Chamorro died in 1854, exhausted by the hard- 
ships and cares of a continued civil war, in which he was 
the leader of one of the two parties, representing at the same 
time the legal executive authority of the republic. In the 
tragedy of the decay of Hispano-American life in Central 
America he has acted a part to which sympathy cannot 
be refused. I believe that he was a true friend of his 
country, and with the honesty and firmness of his character 
he could have effected much good if his notions had been 



158 RETURN TO GRANADA. Book I. 

less circumscribed. But by the course of events, his 
natural stubbornness and the narrowness of his views inces- 
santly increased, and his political ideas became more and 
more reactionary. Under his leadership the disinclination 
towards foreigners, which he had shown privately before, 
and which caused the legislature of the State to reject a 
proposition of law facilitating the settlement of foreigners 
in the country, became avowedly an essential part of the 
political creed of the conservative party of Nicaragua. 
One extreme called the other into life. The democratic 
party, seeing and understanding the degree of prosperity, 
progress, wealth and power derived by the United States 
from foreign emigration, and fully conceiving that, with all its 
natural wealth and advantages of situation, Central America 
has no other hope of escape from ruin than the acquisition 
of assistance in skill, intelligence, activity, enterprise and 
capital from the same source, demanded foreign assistance 
at any cost; and thus, while the revolution had again 
broken out at Leon in 1854, the party, under the leader- 
ship of Francisco Castellon, took the desperate resolution 
of calling in the military assistance of a band of North- 
American adventurers under William Walker. The sequel 
is known to the world. 

On the 28th of August I returned to Granada, where 
barricades obstructed every street. I did not, however, 
remain* to witness the farther development of affairs. I 
left Granada on the 2nd of September, on my way back to 
New York. At San Juan del Norte, which had consider- 
ably increased during the time I had spent in the interior, 
I made the acquaintance of Captain Samuel Shepherd, 
known by his claims to the proprietorship of I forget how 
many thousand square miles of land in the kingdom of 
Mosquitia. Captain Shepherd, who died a few years ago, 



Chap. IX. AEKIVAL AT NEW YOEK. 159 

appeared to me a remarkable character, — one of those men 
who leave an impression in the memory of all who have 
encountered them. He was above seventy when I saw 
him, but though he was almost blind, and had lately 
broken several ribs by a fall, he still retained the traces of 
a powerful constitution and great energy. He told me 
that he had lived on the Mosquito coast from his youth 
without ever having been seriously ill. The country in 
general, he stated to be perfectly healthy. When, upon 
his questions, I told the old gentleman that I had visited 
the Rio Mico, he threw up his arms and hands, "That 
country is all mine," exclaimed he, as if inspired by a vision 
of the beauty and riches of his property. 

I left San Juan del Norte on the 12th of September, 
and on the 21st arrived at New York, after an absence of 
exactly one year. 



160 VISIT TO HONDURAS. Book I. 



CHAPTEK X. 

A Visit to Honduras — Belize — An Excursion on the River — Sites and 
Scenery — Information in reference to the Remnants of the Belgian Colony 
of St. Thomas — The Boom — Ruins in British Honduras — Manati Lagoon 
— Negro Settlement — Types of the Black Race under favourable Circum- 
stances — Manati Cave — Subterraneous Rivers — Geological Remarks. 

Before proceeding to the general remarks on Central 
America which are to fill the closing chapter of this Book, 
I have to give a short account of a visit paid to the British 
settlement of Belize and the coast of the State of Hon- 
duras during the early part of 1 857- 

I made this little trip accompanied by my family and 
by a friend who had come with us from New Orleans, 
and my movements were restricted within the boundaries 
of what we could accomplish under such circumstances. 
Nevertheless, and though in some cases we intended little 
more than the satisfaction of curiosity, I may not be quite 
hopeless of contributing to the reader's information and 
entertainment by my descriptions. 

It was the 8th of February when we left the mouth of 
the Mississippi. The sea was very rough, and our brig, 
called the Creole, rather an elderly lady, and much 
afflicted with dropsy, supplied accommodation of a very 
dubious character ; but the northerly gale by which the 
waves were raised drove us in little more than five days 
into the harbour of Belize. The communication between 
the latter place and New Orleans is carried on by a few 
schooners and brigs, of which, generally, one sails every 
fortnight. They are all of a very inferior class of vessels. 



Chap. X. THE BELIZE BIYEE. 161 

The goods which they carry to the British settlement are 
principally provisions, such as flour, salt meat, hams, 
liquors, &c, chiefly for the mahogany cuttings. On their 
return to New Orleans they usually call at Ruatan, where 
they take in plantains, bananas, and cocoa-nuts, as a home 
freight. 

I abstain from a description of the little town of Belize, 
as I may fairly suppose it to be sufficiently known in 
England. This, however, is not to be expected of the 
natural character of the country, the charms of its scenery 
being but very indifferently appreciated by the inhabitants. 

During the first days of March we made an excursion 
of two days paddling up the river. Downward the current 
brought us back in one day. The course is very crooked, 
so that the farthest point of our excursion could have 
been reached on horseback in six or seven hours— the land- 
road, which runs on the northern side of the river, cutting 
off the bends. We travelled in one of the long canoes called 
pitpans, rowed by six Caribs. It was provided with an 
awning, under which we were well protected against the 
sun. I was indebted for these accommodations to the kind 
attentions of Mr. Travis, of the firm of James Hyde and Co. 

The Belize river empties itself by two channels which 
separate at a place called Haulover, where the old piratical 
settlement of Wallace, and afterwards the seat of govern- 
ment of what is now called British Honduras, was originally 
situated, and remained so until it was removed to the out- 
let of the southern channel. Here the present town is 
built along the sea-shore, on both sides connected by a 
wooden bridge. This southern branch of the river-mouth 
may be six or seven miles long, forming a narrow passage 
through a thicket of mangroves. The northern channel, 
which carries out by far the greater portion of water, is 

M 



162 THE BELIZE RIVER. Book I. 

wide, and in that direction the sea is seen from Haulover 
at a short distance. From hence upwards, to a place 
called the Boom, where the river is artificially narrowed 
and shut in by an iron chain for the purpose of arresting 
the mahogany flooded down from the upper cuttings, the 
stream has a respectable appearance, and might be navi- 
gated by steam-boats. 

Leaving Belize, we took the southern channel, and thus 
had a fine opportunity of seeing the characteristic scenery 
produced by mangrove thickets lining the banks of a river 
within the limits of tide-water. Thousands of interwoven 
branches of an inverted vegetation, as it were, lifting the 
main trunks of the trees above the flood and representing 
what might be called the legs of the forest, form a laby- 
rinth of arches and grottoes under which a canoe may 
pass, and where a whole fleet of such small craft might 
hide itself from view at a hundred yards distance. It is 
evident that, in addition to the coral reefs of the coast, 
these thickets must have greatly contributed to the security 
of the first adventurous settlers who had established them- 
selves here in spite of Spanish persecution and vengeance. 
By the variety of so grotesque a foreground, the general 
monotony of our passage through this region was agreeably 
relieved. Our Caribs paddled away in the best humour, 
showing their dexterity in the handling of their little oars 
by now and then giving a double stroke to the water in 
the time required for a single one, or by letting them wheel 
round upon their hand so as to be again in the right posi- 
tion when required by the regular movement of the little 
crew, while in a low voice they sang their songs of strange 
melody in unintelligible language. 

A little above the Haulover the mangroves disappear. 
The banks rise above the level of the water and begin to 



Chap. X. BELGIAN COLONY OF ST. THOMAS. 163 

be fit for cultivation; though in time of inundations, 
during the rainy season, the whole country is occasionally 
overflowed. Now and then we pass a little hut, half 
hidden between some giant plantain-leaves, and over- 
shadowed by a few cocoa-nut trees. After three or four 
hours' rowing we reached the plantation of Mr. R., a 
German, who owns a considerable tract of land here. 
Most agreeably we were surprised by the neatness of the 
small dwelling in which we were received with all the 
hospitality we could have expected from good countrymen. 
Mr. and Mrs. K., both from the borders of the Rhine, 
had been amongst the first settlers of the ill-fated Belgian 
colony of St. Thomas, on the coast of Guatemala, where 
they spent many years before retiring to their present 
residence. The situation of their house is delightful. 
The river, here a noble stream, passes before the door, 
the opposite bank offering an admirable view of Dr. 
Y.'s country seat, one of the oldest cultivations and 
residences on the Belize river. A long avenue of cocoa- 
nut trees, planted at regular distances, extends along the 
bank, from which an ever green meadow, bordered by 
forest-trees, spreads towards the interior. 

Mr. and Mrs. R. have a very favourable opinion of the 
climate of the country in which they are now residing, 
and whoever sees them will not doubt their assurances of 
its salubrity, though they confess they have not escaped 
some attacks of intermittent fever. They bear, however, 
an almost equally favourable impression of the climate of 
St. Thomas, in defiance of the terrible reputation which 
that place has acquired by the mortality of the colonists. 
There are several other persons at Belize who have be- 
longed to that colony, and I took considerable interest in 
collecting and comparing their statements with reference 

m 2 



164 BELGIAN COLONY OF ST. THOMAS. Book I. 

to the unlucky fate of the settlement. But all agree that 
the climate had very little to do with it. The country is 
described by them as rich and beautiful, the climate as good ; 
but of the company who speculated in bringing the settlers 
out, and principally of the directors of the settlement 
itself, they spoke in terms of strong reprobation. By a 
foolish system of arrangement and an iniquitous exertion 
of arbitrary power, the colonists, placed in an absolute 
wilderness, where the existence of a well-prepared location 
with dwelling-houses, built in advance for each of them, 
had been promised by the company, were deprived of their 
individual liberty, and subjected to forced labour for the 
benefit of what was called " the community." And while 
thus reduced to a state little better than that of slaves they 
were allowed to perish from want of wholesome food, almost 
all the provisions sent out by the company being unfit for 
the sustenance of human life. Under these circumstances 
the greater number of the colonists either died or removed 
to some other locality. Some, however, principally Ger- 
mans, remained, and are said to be now well contented 
and in tolerably good circumstances. In consequence of 
the non-fulfilment of their contract by the company, the 
colony of St. Thomas has reverted to the sovereignty of 
Guatemala, and the remaining settlers are doing far better 
under the rule of Carrera than they did before under the 
direction of European speculators. Some of them culti- 
vate yams and other vegetables on a larger scale than is 
customary in this neighbourhood, and from time to time 
bring them to market on their own boats to Belize. 
The realization of the Honduras railway project would 
place them in a very advantageous situation, as even Omoa 
is obliged to procure many necessary articles of life from 
the Caribs. 



Chap. X. THE BOOM. 165 

This is all I had an opportunity of learning of the his- 
tory and present state of St. Thomas— a place which 
has become so conspicuous in the development of unfa- 
vourable opinions as regards colonization in tropical regions. 
Relata refero. 

As we continued to ascend the river the scenery became 
still more beautiful. Lined by thickets of an elegant but 
diminutive species of palm-tree, which might be kept among 
the ornamental plants of a drawing-room, showing on a 
miniature scale all the relative proportions of the most 
characteristic representatives of palmaceae — fringed, still 
higher up, by the gigantic light-green wafts of the bamboo, 
that drop gently over the water's surface, like the downy 
plumes of delicate marabouts — the banks rise some twenty 
or thirty feet above the average height of the river. Fine 
savanas extend on either side, interrupted, in a park-like 
manner, by patches of forest or clusters of trees. Here the 
majestic shafts of the cabbage-palm, representing a natural 
prototype of the Grecian column, and smooth as its marble, 
stand in plastic beauty ; while the Corozo, or Cahoon-nut 
tree, may be considered as the most perfect representative 
of the picturesque in tropical vegetation. With its trunk 
clad in the richest attire of parasitic aroideae, orchideae, or 
bromeliaceae, its feathery leaves bent into elegant curves by 
the weight of their own luxuriance or the burden of orna- 
mental climbers : — this species of palm might be compared 
to a beautiful Indian maiden, such as may have adorned 
the court of the Aztec princes or of the Yncas of Peru. 

At no place, as far as I had an opportunity of seeing 
the country, do these palm-trees unite in composing a more 
delightful scene than in the neighbourhood of what is called 
the Boom. Here they stand, scattered along the smooth 
surface of a beautiful prairie, over which numerous herds 



166 . THE BOOM. Book I. 

of cattle are roaming. Both land and cattle are the pro- 
perty of Mr. B., a wealthy individual, if the mere possession 
of valuable materials, without the inclination of turning them 
to a useful purpose, constitutes wealth. But while we passed 
a night under the hospitable roof of Mr. B., we had an 
opportunity of seeing the owner of many square leagues of 
land and of thousands of cattle deprived even of that degree 
of comfort which in the United States may be found in the 
log-cabin of the squatter ; and this in the neighbourhood of 
a town like Belize, where cattle for the consumption of the 
inhabitants is imported almost weekly by sea from Omoa. 
A Yankee, in the position of Mr. B., would have mono- 
polized the cattle-market of Belize. His lands he would 
have parcelled out in half a thousand farms. He would 
have laid out on his property on the river a town ; and 
farms, as well as town-lots, he would have sold to some 
thousands of emigrants, whom he would have known how 
to induce to settle there ; and after having realized millions 
by this process, he would either have built a palace as his 
family seat at the Boom, or have retired to some of the 
fashionable cities in the United States or in Europe. 

The Boom, under more favourable circumstances, will 
not fail to become the site of a considerable town, and a 
delightful site it will be. We left early in the morning, 
and about three o'clock in the afternoon arrived at Bakers, 
where we remained for the rest of the day, spending a part 
of the time in a walk to the neighbouring "pine ridge." 

As from the borders of the river the traveller passes to 
this new region, the whole aspect of nature becomes changed 
. — the luxuriance of tropical vegetation disappears. Sur- 
rounded by scattered pine-trees and groups of palmettos, 
we found ourselves on a sandy soil, covered with a scanty 
growth of grass of very inferior quality. The country is 



Chap. X. RUINS IN BRITISH HONDURAS. 167 

far superior in aspect to the pine-regions of the Carolinas ; 
but nevertheless the visitor might imagine himself to have 
been suddenly removed to some district in the " Palmetto 
State." 

I had no opportunity of examining or inquiring into the 
agricultural qualifications of the pine regions which comprise 
so great a portion of eastern Central America. Some parts 
are said to have very fine pastures, and numerous ponds or 
little lakes form natural reservoirs of good drinking water, 
never failing even in the dry season. The soil, however, 
appears to be poor, though it may be quite fit for the cul- 
tivation of some particular kinds of vegetable produce ; but 
one thing is certain, the pine regions of this country supply 
an inexhaustible source of turpentine. The quantity of 
resinous matter contained in the wood is so great, that when 
a torch is wanted here a piece is split from the side of the 
first trunk met with, and it will burn as freely as any torch 
artificially manufactured. 

In the higher regions of the interior, the pine districts, I 
was told, present a better aspect. In the State of Hon- 
duras they are the richest grazing districts, nourishing 
millions of cattle, which an intelligent Swiss gentleman 
just from the interior of that State, whom I met at Omoa, 
told me are fully equal to the best breed in Switzerland. 

A few miles from Baker's is a sugar plantation, owned 
by a resident of Belize, and called New Boston. I was 
greatly mortified when, after my return to Belize, I learned 
from a young Frenchman that on this plantation are Indian 
ruins of the same character as those of Yucatan, and that 
idols and other antiquities have often been found there. 

The following day we returned. Had we extended our 
trip higher up the river, some hours would have brought 
us to the lower rapids — the first of a series of falls which 



168 MANATI LAGOON. Book I. 

interrupt the navigation. Canoes can ascend higher, but 
must be dragged overland at these rapids. 

As far as I examined the Belize river, I received a very 
favourable impression of it, and the country higher up, I 
was told, is still in a state of general improvement. Nothing 
but the political history of the British settlement can explain 
the manner in which the natural advantages of this fine 
region have been neglected. 

A few days later we made an excursion to the Manati 
Lagoon, the inlet to which is situated on the coast about 
twenty miles south from Belize. Mr. Dieseldorff, a German 
merchant established here, obliged us by offering his fine 
little sloop, drawing 3i feet of water, which would just 
allow entrance into the lagoon. She was manned with two 
herculean negroes — experienced sailors as well as woods- 
men — such as may be found in the mahogany works of 
this region. Provisions were laid in for a few days, and on 
the morning of the 10th we passed over the bar of the Belize 
river and took our course along the coast to the southward. 
We kept close enough to the land to see the huts of the 
village of Sherboon, at the mouth of the river of that name. 
Inside the bar I was told a second village exists, composed 
of the habitations of mahogany-cutters, to whom the banks 
of this river afford an active occupation. The cuttings of 
the house of Young, Toledo, and Co. are as high up in 
the interior as the head waters of its southern branch. By- 
and-bye, as we proceeded, the hills and mountains of the 
southern part of the British territory rose higher, until, as 
we came close to the shore, they were again concealed by 
the trees of the forest which extends along the beach. 
After a navigation of four or five hours, we anchored before 
the inlet to what appeared to be a narrow river, lined with 
mangroves, but which was, in fact, the connecting channel 



Chap. X. MANATI LAGOON. 169 

between the sea and the lagoon, through which the salt 
water runs in and out with the tides. The tide being low 
at the time, the water over the bar was too shallow to allow 
us to pass ; but, after having spent some hours very plea- 
santly on the beach, we at last drifted in with the influx of 
high tide. 

The channel is several miles long, narrow and winding. 
From time to time the high mangroves on either side 
intercepted the faint breeze of the evening; then our two 
boatmen took to the oars, and their powerful arms kept 
the sloop in motion. Our progress, however, was neces- 
sarily very slow, and the sun had set when we arrived at 
the end of the channel, where a scene of striking effect was 
suddenly unrolled before our view. Through an opening 
between the two walls of mangroves a double stream of 
light, in the brightest hues of gold and vermilion, burst 
upon our eyes. Emanating from the western horizon, above 
a chain of steep and densely-wooded hills, its rays were 
reflected from the surface of a wide and forest-bound basin 
of water which lay expanded at their foot. A mysterious 
region of darkness between two oceans of light, these hills, 
wrapt already in the shades of night, stood like a barrier 
between an upper and a lower sky. 

Here we entered the Manati Lagoon. Its water, in the 
neighbourhood of the outlet, is very shallow. Our sloop 
touched the ground several times, when our two sailors 
would jump into the water to get her afloat again. We 
anchored near a long and narrow strip of land, running out 
for many miles into the lagoon, from its southern extremity 
to the northward. Here, between groups of cocoa-nut trees, 
and unknown to the rest of the world, are the habitations 
of a small population of negroes and mulattoes, who, ac- 
cording to the languages they speak, must have gathered 



170 NEGEO SETTLEMENT. Book I. 

together from different quarters of the globe — some speaking 
French, some Spanish, some English in preference, and 
others a language composed, no doubt, of an idiom of 
African origin, mixed up with elements of the various 
European dialects used in the West Indies. Of this settle- 
ment of black squatters scarcely anything was known at 
Belize, where even the best-informed told us that we should 
be obliged to bivouac in the wilderness, wherever we might 
land around the lagoon — a statement to which our boatmen 
would only respond with a smile, or a mysterious "let us 
take care of that and you will see." Indeed here they had 
their own houses, though they had left them uninhabited 
for a considerable time while they were working in some of 
the mahogany cuttings of the interior, or in the port of 
Belize. All the neighbours around were their friends or 
relations, with whom they passed the night, leaving us on 
board our sloop as we refused their invitation to go on shore 
with them that evening. Next morning they returned and 
landed us close to some cane-huts, surrounded by palm- 
trees on a strip of land not more than one hundred yards 
broad. Black and brown women and children gathered 
around us. Of the male portion of the little settlement, 
only a few appeared to be present. No trace of cultivated 
land was to be seen, and indeed the soil, though overgrown 
with trees, shrubs, grass and herbs, seemed to be very poor 
— a mere accumulation of sand. Fresh water is nowhere 
to be found on this long and narrow dike : it is brought in 
canoes from some places on the opposite shores. But the 
refreshing liquid of the cocoa-nut is so plentifully at hand 
and so generally in use as to make water almost superfluous 
for drinking purposes. 

Though well recommended by our boatmen, as I sup- 
posed we were, the population of this secluded place ap- 



Chap. X. TYPES OF THE BLACK RACE. 171 

peared to be ill disposed towards us, or at least not to like 
our visit. But this, if it really was so, must be confessed 
to be very natural. Who can doubt that, wherever on 
American soil an independent black population exists, 
sufficient causes for disliking white people must be retained 
in their memory ? and who can dispute that they will be 
disturbed in their peace and in the enjoyment of their 
freedom as soon as white men begin to settle around them 1 
At present their life is that of almost absolute independence 
and of undisturbed tranquillity — not of idleness, but neither 
of toil. The lagoon contains an inexhaustible quantity 
and great variety of the most excellent fish, and its shores 
are swarming with game — principally the small species of 
wild hog called the pecari. But to provide for more than 
mere existence, the men, leaving their families under the 
safeguard of the natural seclusion of this hidden spot, 
migrate for some portion of the year, returning with the 
earnings of a highly creditable activity in the mahogany 
cuttings. 

An exception to the cold manner in which we were - 
received by the rest of this community occurred in the 
instance of a young mulatto woman of very prepossessing 
and even interesting appearance, who, politely approach- 
ing Mrs. F., invited us to her habitation, where she ful- 
filled the duties of hospitality with a remarkable degree 
of delicacy and good manners, doing the honours of the 
place in a style which made us call her the Queen of 
Manati, or the Black Preciosa of British Honduras. 
There was nothing of the awkward and ungraceful move- 
ments about her that generally distinguish the negro race. 
Quite the contrary ; whatever she did was expressive of 
a natural good taste, not often to be found in civilized 
society. Her very appearance was striking. She was 



172 TYPES OF THE BLACK RACE, Book I. 

dressed in a tunic of white muslin ; a blue handkerchief 
was tied round her head in the turban-like fashion of the 
West Indies ; and a string of white beads fell around her 
bronze-coloured neck. Her features, though not denying 
her near connexion with the negro race, were very fine, 
and left a most favourable impression. Life and intellect 
flashed from her eyes, while her teeth were as white and 
well set as those of the most perfect coloured beauty 
can possibly be imagined. No wonder that one of our 
young travelling companions, born on the cold banks of 
the Elbe, fell in love with this attractive daughter of a 
fiery clime, who, however, received his addresses with a 
sublime mixture of dignity and good-humoured satire. 

While speaking favourably of the free negroes of this 
territory, I cannot omit mentioning the excellent qualities 
of our two boatmen. If our Preciosa was a happy repre- 
sentation of the natural graces that can be expected in a 
black woman, Mr. Barnard, one of the two negroes, was 
a type of manliness in the best sense of the word. Un- 
commonly tall, and of herculean frame, but perfectly well 
proportioned ; used to all the hardships of a sailor and 
woodsman, and still easy in his movements : he was as 
good-natured as he was naturally intelligent, and as polite 
as he was dignified in his entire deportment. He tried to 
comply with our wishes as soon as he knew them, and to 
the comforts of my family he paid an attention which left 
almost nothing to me to take care of. When, with a few 
strokes of his machete, he opened a cocoa-nut which he 
held between his fingers, or when he split it in two while 
it rested freely upon the palm of his left hand, and then 
offered it to one of our company, a more easy, and at the 
same time striking, display of physical power and natural 
politeness could not possibly be conceived. 



Chap. X. MANATI CAVE. 173 

The reader will allow me to assure him that these 
portrait sketches of a black woman and a black man are 
conscientiously taken from nature. I must add, however, 
that in general free negroes born in the tropical regions 
of America are a race more favourably developed than 
negroes, free or slaves, under the less genial climate and 
institutions of the United States. 

By several islands, peninsulas, and tongues of land, the 
lagoon of Manati is divided into several branches and 
subordinate basins ; and by a narrow channel, such as 
that by which we had entered, it is connected with another, 
and still larger, lagoon, situated to the northward. The 
shores of this latter are entirely uninhabited. From the 
west, a stream, called the Manati .River, enters into the 
first lagoon. By several falls or rapids, it descends from 
the mountainous regions situated in that direction. Some 
ten or fifteen miles before reaching the lagoon, it passes 
through the interior of a mountain in a natural tunnel, 
navigable for small canoes 5 the Manati Eiver thus repeat- 
ing a remarkable feature characteristic of the physical 
geography of Yucatan and Honduras. 1 This tunnel is 
known by the name of the Great Manati Cave, and it 
had been our intention to visit the locality ; but to pro- 
ceed up the river was declared a very toilsome and diffi- 
cult task at this time of the year, when we should be 
obliged to drag our canoe over the sand more than a dozen 
times. There is, however, another cave, called the Cave 
of Ben Lomond, in this neighbourhood. It is situated in 
a rocky hill, at the north-western corner of the lagoon. 
A Scotch gentleman at Belize, the owner of that tract of 



1 Lake Yojoa, in the State of Hondu- I Squier, a considerable number of sub- 
ras, has, according to the statements of terraneous outlets. 
Mr. Emory Edwards, published by Mr. 1 



174 CAVE. OF BEN LOMOND. Book I. 

land, where he once intended to establish a sugar planta- 
tion, christened it with that name. The same gentleman 
established another sugar plantation on the south-western 
side of the lagoon, and called it Cumberland Hall; but 
here, as well as at Ben Lomond, the project, when half 
realized, was given up, and a vast amount of money sacri- 
ficed. I visited the latter place also, and saw a very fine 
dwelling-house overgrown by the rank vegetation of several 
years ; and costly machinery cast away in an absolute 
wilderness. 

As we were once about seeing caves, we resolved to see 
that of Ben Lomond, and for that locality we accordingly 
steered. 

After a navigation of some hours we anchored in the 
shallow water of a bay, before a fine park-like savana, with 
pine-trees and palmettos, extending about a mile inland 
to the foot of a ridge of steep and thickly-wooded hills. 
One of them contained the cave we proposed to visit ; by 
an accident I was prevented from seeing its interior, and 
therefore can give no description of it. Some gentlemen 
belonging to our party were more fortunate, and, according 
to their relation, the cave contains all the wonders of sub- 
terranean scenery, such as stalactitic formations of fan- 
tastic shapes, large halls and narrow passages, shafts and 
tunnels leading up and down. For myself, while standing 
before the entrance, I discovered that the two boatmen, 
whom I believed to have continued on the beach, had 
followed us ; my family, who had remained there while 
I went to reconnoitre the approach to the cave, thus being 
left entirely alone and unprotected in an absolute wilder- 
ness. Without losing a moment, I hastened to join them. 
In the mean time heavy clouds had collected and a thun- 
derstorm was approaching. We had not time enough to 



Chap. X. GEOLOGICAL REMARKS. 175 

take refuge on board our sloop before it burst over us in 
all its violence. The quantity of water pouring down was 
frightful. Drenched to the skin in a minute, we reached 
the sloop with some difficulty, where we tried to make the 
best of our situation, while our friends were in danger of 
being cut off from us. After the rain had continued for 
about an hour it began to overflow the plain at the foot of 
the hill, and in returning to the beach they had to wade up 
to their waists through the water. 

The scenery at the entrance of the cave is wild and 
romantic to the utmost. From the darkest shades of a 
tropical thicket, with a dense undergrowth of young palms, 
a perpendicular wall of silver-gray rock rises to the height 
of one hundred feet or more. Thick ropes of gigantic 
vines stretch over its surface from top to bottom, some of 
them straight, others wound in a spiral line. At the foot 
of this wall is the entrance to a large vault with stalactites 
hanging from its roof and the background lost in darkness. 

The soil of the savana was naturally swampy, and after 
this inundation several days would have been necessary to 
render it again passable. Without waiting, therefore, until 
another visit to the cave should become practicable, we 
returned to Belize. 

The country around Manati Lagoon is of a very 
attractive character. The soil is not rich, but this, in a 
tropical region with more than sufficient rain, is a recom- 
mendation rather than a drawback. With respect to the 
salubrity of the climate, I could obtain no information; 
our own experience^ however, short as it was, speaks in 
favour of it. The steep hills of this region are composed 
of a metamorphic limestone, which, where I had an oppor- 
tunity of a closer inspection, took the form of a crystalline, 
variegated marble, which seemed to have excellent quali- 



176 GEOLOGICAL EEMAKKS. Book I. 

ties for architectural purposes. As to the geology of the 
territory in general, there seems to be some analogy with 
that of Western Texas. According to the descriptions 
which were given to me during my conversations with a 
gentleman who had visited the interior, the higher moun- 
tains at the sources of the Belize River and Sherboon are 
composed of a centre of plutonic rocks, flanked by strata 
of black slates, and layers of sandstone with gypsum are 
resting upon the latter. These strata, which form the 
pine ridges of the territory, may belong to the new red 
sandstone, while the limestone ridges, with the caves and 
tunnels, may be of the Jurassic formation. 



4 r \ 

■lllf 
■iiiiii 




;■' ■ , ■" ''.x^vrfc,.' 



Chap. XI. VISIT TO HONDURAS — OMOA. 177 



CHAPTEK XL 

Visit to Honduras, continued — Omoa — Pleasant Navigation of the Gulf of 
Honduras — Carib Villages of the British Territory — The Zapodilla 
Keys — Cerro de Guyamel — Omoa — The Malinche, or Guacamayo — 
Wild Scenery in the Neighbourhood — Climatic Influences of Northerly 
Winds — Oak Trees by the side of Cocoa Palms — Northern Birds of Pas- 
sage — Excursion to the Northern Terminus of the Honduras inter-Oceanic 
Railway — Carib Village of Tulian — Severity of Caribean Criminal Justice 
— Port Cortez and Alvarado Lagoon — Prospects of this Locality — The 
Honduras inter-Oceanic Railway. 

On the 28th of March we left Belize for Omoa, one of 
the two seaports which, at the present time, the State of 
Honduras possesses on its Atlantic side. Four or five 
small schooners keep up the communication between that 
place and Belize ; their crews, as well as their masters, are 
either negroes or Caribs, from whom nothing beyond the 
merest elements of the art of navigation can be expected. 
Nevertheless, these vessels find their way. The passage, 
however, it must be confessed, needs no great skill ; the 
greater part of the distance, which is generally made in 
one day and a half or two days, leads through a portion of 
the Bay of Honduras, well protected against the heavy 
swells of the ocean by an almost continuous line of reefs 
and keys. It is a quiet sea, on which even the nut- 
shell canoe of the negro woman or Carib boy may pass 
safely along. In one of these coasting- vessels we took our 
passage. 

The little trip is a very pleasant one : the climate is 
delightful, the water smooth, the aspect of the coast on one 
side and of the keys on the other highly interesting. As 

N 



178 CERRO DE GUYAMEL. Book I. 

we proceeded, the mountains in the southern portion of 
the British territory rose conspicuously in sight : first, the 
hills in the vicinity of Manati Lagoon ; then, farther on, 
the serrated outlines of the Coxcomb Mountains, which, in 
boldness of form, bear some similarity to the summit of 
Mount Pilatus in Switzerland. Two Carib villages, called 
North and South Stanncreek, are situated on this section 
of the coast. Towards the east we had a continued line 
of low coral islands, with mangroves and cocoa-nut trees ; 
here and there the sail of some Carib fishing-boat appeared 
between them. It is by this industrious race that the 
market of Belize is chiefly provided with fish. The islands 
are without water, but, if they were to be inhabited, it 
would be easy to provide for the want by cisterns, as is 
done at Belize, where no other drinking-water exists except 
that collected from the rains. The islands, moreover, pro- 
duce such a number of cocoa-nuts that fresh water could 
almost be dispensed with. The end of the chain in the 
direction towards Omoa is formed by the Zapodilla Keys, 
where the course of vessels crosses over to the oppo- 
site side of the Gulf. They are a group of delightful 
little islands, whither the inhabitants of Omoa resort on 
pleasure-trips to inhale the pure sea-breeze and enjoy a 
few days of sport. The surrounding sea abounds in many 
kinds of fish. 

On the morning of the 30th, at daybreak, the coast of 
the State of Honduras extended before our view. A chain 
of very high mountains, called the Cerro de Guyamel, 
rises to the west of Omoa, and contributes to the 
scenery a grand and very interesting character. By one 
of the calms which are of daily occurrence here, we were 
kept immoveable in sight of Omoa for several hours. The 
daily sea-breeze at last drove us in, and at eleven o'clock 



Chap. XI. OMOA. 179 

we cast anchor in front of the old castle, which stands as 
a monument of Spanish greatness as well as of its decay, 
and as a memento mori to the race on which the inherit- 
ance of the latter alone seems to have devolved. A large 
shed under the wall is the custom-house of the port. In 
its shade a dozen of idlers of both sexes, stretched on the 
ground, or swinging in their hammocks to the sleepy notes 
of an accordion, were recovering from the toils of their 
vocation. During a conversation with the director of the 
customs — or " Ministro de la Aduana" as his title runs — I 
was indiscreet enough to ask how many soldiers were in 
the castle ; when that high dignitary fixed a piercing eye 
upon me, and " Sir ! " — he answered with a strong accent 
— " the whole coast is sufficiently guarded by the military 
force of this republic ! " My innocent curiosity had ex- 
cited his suspicion, and he tried to discourage me in case 
I should be connected with some filibustering scheme to 
take possession of the fortress by a coup de main. The 
garrison, I learned the next day, consisted of twenty men, 
but, if it was not strong in numbers, it was at least potent 
in drumming. After we had been some weeks at Omoa, 
and suspicions had subsided, I not only received permis- 
sion to see the interior of the castle, but the comandante 
himself came to accompany us with all the politeness of 
a Hispano-American cavallero. 

But to return to the moment of our arrival — we were 
waiting for the boat to bring us on shore, when a man with 
the fair complexion of a northerner, in company with a black 
beauty, came on board, and while Miss Lucinda embraced 
our captain, Mr. F. addressed us with the cordial and 
good-natured air of a German mechanic. " You are Ger- 
mans, I hear," he said. " Have you come to see Hon- 
duras ? O moa is a fine place, I assure you, and a very 

2 n 



180 OMOA — ITS SITUATION". Book T. 

gay one too. We have a ball every Saturday, where a 
considerable "quantity of champagne is consumed. I, of 
course, have never to pay for it : there are some very 
liberal gentlemen here, who are in the habit of treating the 
rest. Every Sunday we have our recreations likewise. 
This is the day for our democratic assemblies, and Monday 
and Tuesday are the days for the nigger balls. No want 
of fine girls here ! " And in this strain our countryman 
continued, freely communicating his store of knowledge 
respecting the ladies of Omoa, by which he expected to 
excite our warm interest. He told us he was a jeweller 
by profession, who made himself useful at this place by 
repairing the gold chains of the girls, a job which he con- 
fessed he never did well enough to let the chains last for 
more than a single evening. Never did I meet a man 
more contented with his position, and certainly, if the 
" travail attrayant " of the Fourierists is more than a 
Utopian dream, the happy jeweller of Omoa enjoyed, and I 
hope still enjoys, its reality. 

The situation of Omoa, though endowed with all the 
charms of tropical scenery, with the most luxuriant vegeta- 
tion, is neither healthy nor favourable to commercial in- 
terests ; and as soon as a communication is opened from 
Puerto Cortez into the interior it will lose what little im- 
portance it has now as a port of entry. With the mer- 
chants the rest of the population will remove to the latter 
place, where all the conditions unite for a town of greater 
extent. In expectation of such a change, some of the in- 
habitants, even at the time of our visit, had discontinued to 
keep their houses in repair. 

The town is situated a quarter of a mile from the beach, 
a savana extending across the intervening space. To the 
eastward of the latter is an eminence, from which a view 



Chap. XI. 



THE MALINCHE, OR GUACAMAYO. 



181 



over the gulf and the coast to the westward, with its high 
mountains, is to be obtained. The splendid Poinciana 
pulcherrima, in a yellow and scarlet variety, forms a thicket 
of shrubbery on this elevation. This beautiful plant, called 
Malinche in Nicaragua, bears the name of Guacamayo in 
Honduras. Both names have a historical, and, it may be 
said, a poetical interest; the former being the name of the 
Indian mistress of Hernando Cortez, while the latter is 
originally that given to the large red parrot, called Ara 
and Lapa in other parts of South and Central America — 
a bird which, with the Maya Indians of Yucatan, seems to 
have been sacred, and dedicated to the sun. 1 On the 
highest point of the eminence a flagstaff is raised, and a 
guard kept to signalize vessels coming in sight. In former 
times this guard was stationed on the summit of one of the 
higher hills in the rear, but the men were so often devoured 
by the jaguars that the post had to be abandoned. These 
ferocious beasts are by no means rare in the vicinity of 
Omoa even now ; and one of them, not many years ago, 
ventured into the very streets of the town. 

Immediately behind the place steep hills, covered with 
primitive forest, begin, and form a wilderness almost im- 
penetrable. A little river flows down from between the 
mountains. One day, in company with a friend, I tried to 
follow its course for five or six miles. For half the dis- 
tance we suffered no other inconvenience than that of being 
compelled to pass several times through the water from 
one side to the other. Higher up, however, the density of 
vegetation on the banks would not allow us to proceed 



1 At Itzamal there "was a temple 
dedicated to Kinich Kakmo, an idol 
fashioned like the snn, with the beak 
of a bird : he was surrounded by rays 
of fire, and descended to burn the 



offered sacrifice at mid-day, as the 
vacamuya — a bright-feathered parrot — 
descends in its flight." Fancourt, His- 
tory of Yucatan, pp. 124, 125. 



182 OMOA — WILD SCENERY. Book I. 

otherwise than by the bed of the river itself. The latter is 
a transparent stream rushing down in cascades, over rocks 
of gneiss, ?nica-slate, and amphibolic schists, overshadowed 
by gigantic trees. Its embankments are covered with a 
variety of ferns, and with a mossy carpet of creeping lyco- 
podiacece. With our guns to carry, and with the wish 
to keep them dry, it was no easy matter to pass along in 
the midst of the river, now wading through a widened por- 
tion of it, then leaping from one slippery rock to the other, 
where the water foamed around, rushing through the narrow 
passages between blocks and boulders. We at last found 
it too difficult to proceed farther. We then left the river 
and tried to ascend one of the hills on its side, which we" 
succeeded in doing. But with scarcely any possibility of 
looking beyond the next trees, whilst the forest extended 
over steep ridges and through narrow gorges in almost 
every direction, we had to retrace our steps, and reached 
home completely exhausted with fatigue. 

What struck me on my little excursions in the vicinity of 
Omoa, was the small number of tropical birds, while differ- 
ent kinds of aquatic birds of a more northern climate were 
numerous. Mr. Julius Levy, at Belize, a young gentleman 
who takes a very lively and intelligent interest in the 
natural history of these regions, told me that during the 
winter the greater number of birds to be seen on the coast 
of British Honduras belong to the fauna of the United 
States, while the characteristic birds of the tropical region, 
such as parrots, toucans and others, have disappeared. 
This also seems to be the case on the coast of the State of 
Honduras ; but I did not make a similar observation in 
Nicaragua. The influence of the northers of the Mexican 
gulf does not seem to reach as far as the latter country ; 
while they sweep over Yucatan and are very sensibly felt 



/ 

Chap XI. HONDUKAS INTER-OCEANIC EAILWAT. 183 

at Omoa, communicating to the regions within the limits of 
their farthest extent certain features of an extra-tropical 
character of nature. Thus, in reference to the flora of 
British Honduras, I have seen oak trees growing by the 
side of cocoa-nut trees on the shore of Manati-Lagoon. 1 At 
Omoa, while tropical birds have only to pass over the coast 
range of mountains to be out of reach of the cold winds, 
every gale from the north throws numbers of snipes, ducks, 
teals, &c, on this coast. 

During our stay at Omoa I visited the northern 
terminus of the projected Honduras Inter-oceanic Eailway. 
The locality, inhabited at that time by a few Caribs, and 
by a lonely family of settlers of whom I shall say more, 
had been hitherto known by the name of Puerto Caballos ; 
which, with the authorization of the government of Hon- 
duras, has now been changed by the projectors of the 
railway into that of Port Cortez ; while a beautiful lagoon, 
separated from the sea by a strip of land of a few hundred 
yards in width, formerly called the Laguna de Puerto 
Caballos, has been christened Alvarado Lagoon, thus 
associating in a very appropriate manner the memory of 
the two great " conquistador es." I made the excursion in 
company with the American Consul and several other 
friends. The distance is such as to allow going and 
returning the same day, either by land on horseback, or by 
water. We chose the latter, leaving Omoa early in the 
morning in a canoe with two Carib boatmen, and taking 
our course along the coast in an east-northeasterly direction. 
The aspect of the land remains essentially the same 
towards that quarter. Everywhere the forest reaches down 
to the sea-shore, either with a narrow sand-beach before it, 
or with the coast breaking off in the shape of a perpendi- 



At the locality called " Cumberland Hall" by Mr. MacDonald. 



184 SEVERITY OF CARIBEAN Book I. 

cular wall of some red material, either clay or sandstone, 
which I could not approach near enough to distinguish. 
Steep ridges of wooded hills follow the coast, sending 
down some small streams, like that of Omoa: the Tulian, 
Cieneguita and Marques. The mouth of the latter is 
connected with the Laguna de Alvarado. Where these 
little rivers reach the sea, and at the connecting channel 
between the latter one and the laguna, small communities 
of Caribs have built their villages. We landed at Tidian, 
where we took our breakfast in the habitation of the chief, 
or "general" as he is styled. Before his door some heavy 
chains attracted my attention, and, on inquiry, I was 
informed that these chains — together with an apparatus 
consisting of two blocks of wood prepared to fit to each other 
so as to leave certain circular openings between them — 
were intended for securing malefactors. The criminal law 
of the Caribs seems to be exceedingly harsh, and in other 
respects also this remarkable and highly respectable race 
is distinguished by an uncommon discipline and severity of 
manners. In their engagements as mahogany cutters, or 
for any other work to be executed, they are always to be 
depended on; the responsibility for each member of a 
company of labourers resting with their own captain with 
whom the contract is made. But, on the other hand, 
they expect the strictest fulfilment of obligations on the 
side of their employers, and when the term for which they 
have been engaged — and which in the mahogany cuttings is 
generally eight months — is over, they stop working, and it 
is almost impossible to induce them to continue even for a 
single day. A gentleman, who has had much experience 
with this race, assured me that they were in the habit 
of punishing the intercourse of their women with men 
of other races in the most cruel manner, by whipping the 
unfortunate female slowly to death. Whatever may be 



Chap. XI. CRIMINAL JUSTICE. 185 

thought of such a cruelty, the fact is a striking exhibition 
of the national energy of a tribe which — when transplanted 
at the latter end of the passed century to Honduras from 
the island of St. Vincent — consisted of little more than five 
thousand persons, and is now settled along the whole extent 
of coast from Cape Gracias a Dios to Belize, being able to 
furnish between four and five thousand prime hands to the 
mahogany works. While the men are absent in this and 
other occupations, the women cultivate the fields. Man- 
dioca is the principal product of their agricultural industry, 
and the Casade, or bread made of mandioca flour, is 
known by the name of Carib bread at Omoa and Belize, 
where they bring it for sale. Omoa is dependent upon 
them for this, as well as for many other articles of food. 
Almost every morning their canoes arrive loaded with all 
kinds of fish and molluscs, iguanas, mandiocca, yams, plan- 
tains, and cocoa-nuts ; while the Hispano-American in- 
habitants of the town are far too lazy to provide for their 
own wants. 

At Tulian the habitations of this people, situated in a grove 
of cocoa-nut trees, were built of a wooden framework, which 
is filled up with clay, the whole thatched with palm leaves. 
Their fields were situated at a little distance, and I had no 
time to visit them. They had formerly been more ex- 
tensive ; but the cows of Omoa, roaming about for many 
miles, as is the custom in that country, had found these 
plantations, and by their devastations had caused a part of 
the inhabitants of the village to remove to the Laguna de 
Alvarado, to which place I was told the rest were preparing 
to follow them. As soon as a town shall spring into exist- 
ence at the northern terminus of the Honduras Inter-oceanic 
Railway the presence of this Carib settlement must become 
eminently useful. 



186 PORT CORTEZ AND ALVARADO LAGOON. Book I. 

Port Cortez and Alvarado Lagoon, taken together, con- 
stitute a most admirable situation for a maritime city. 
Nature has prepared here all the essential conditions for 
the existence even of a large commercial city, destined to 
become the centre of business for the whole eastern side of 
Central America ; and there is little doubt that, as soon as 
the railway is constructed, a considerable population will 
assemble at once at this spot. There is an almost unlimited 
space along the sea-shore as well as round the lagoon. 
The plain, which spreads towards the interior, is capable of 
an extensive and most productive cultivation. The climate 
is delightful, the heat being greatly tempered by the sea- 
breeze. The rise and fall of tide is scarcely perceptible on 
this coast, a fact which is calculated to contribute in an 
essential manner to the healthiness of the situation. There is 
no want of fresh water for the use of a large city, a fact which 
constitutes another essential condition of salubrity. Good 
building materials of every kind are to be found in any 
quantity in the immediate neighbourhood. But all these 
advantages, however important, are secondary to the excel- 
lence of the harbour, which is the only first-class seaport on 
the Atlantic coast of Central America. According to 
authorities perfectly competent in the matter, it offers all 
the necessary protection and accommodation. It is shut in 
on all sides except the west, but even in that direction the 
sea is broken by a reef which acts as a natural breakwater, 
without embarassing the entrance. But the general forma- 
tion and run of the coasts surrounding the Gulf of Hon- 
duras seem to keep off the high winds from that quarter. 
Near its northern shore it has a depth of from four to eight 
fathoms, even within a hundred yards of the land. 

On the strip of sand which separates the lagoon from the 
port, and which at the narrowest place scarcely reaches one 



Chap. XL PKOSPECTS OF THIS LOCALITY. 187 

hundred paces in width, with an elevation of about two feet 
above the water, we found a European, named Fischer, 
settled with his family. Here he had built his house, sur- 
rounded by cocoa-nut trees planted by himself, and which 
already bore a rich harvest of fruit. With the exception 
of his own efforts towards the cultivation of the place, he 
lived in an absolute wilderness, with no human beings but 
a few Caribs in the neighbourhood. His life, however, had 
not even the comforts of a Carib family. For his own and 
his family's sustenance he was dependent on the game of 
the forest, the fish of the lagoon, and the cocoa-nuts of his 
plantation. When I asked him how he could have resolved 
to live here, and with a family, he answered that he felt 
proud to be the first settler at a place where he was sure a 
large and wealthy city was destined to originate, supplant- 
ing with its palaces the trees of the wilderness ; and that, 
if he was to die before the accomplishment of this expecta- 
tion, he would do so with the satisfaction of knowing that 
civilization would be triumphant over his grave ! I have 
heard with much pleasure that Mr. Fischer had lived to see 
the engineers of the Honduras Inter-oceanic Railway survey 
the locality where he had built his house ; and I trust the 
company, who are acting the part of destiny there, will 
recompense the strong faith of this enthusiastic believer by 
something more consolatory than simply letting him enjoy 
the spectacle of his cocoa-nut trees falling by the axe of 
civilization. 

As to these trees, I must state that on one of them I 
counted more than four hundred cocoa-nuts, and that 
nowhere have I found the liquid of the nuts of a more 
exquisite taste. 

As Mr. Fischer had a canoe on the lagoon, we crossed 
it in several directions. It has a length of two miles and a 



188 HONDURAS INTEK-OCEANIC RAILWAY. Book I. 

half, and a width of about one mile and a half, with an 
oval form. Its water is salted, with an almost uniform 
depth of from eighteen to twenty-four feet, and the whole 
could be easily converted into a perfectly protected natural 
dock for vessels drawing from sixteen to twenty feet of 
water. On its northern shore twenty-four feet have been 
found, within thirty yards of the beach. While crossing 
this little basin, our attention was drawn to the incredible 
number of medusae in the water. They were so numerous 
that it was difficult to wet the hand without risking the 
burning effect of their contact, to which they owe the name 
of sea-nettles. At the same time other portions of the 
lagoon were absolutely alive with large shoals of fish. 

The scenery of the neighbouring country is very at- 
tractive, particularly by the contrast of the sea-shore with 
the high mountains that rise on the coast in the direction 
towards Omoa. Daring our visit we were greatly annoyed 
by mosquitoes and sand-flies, which I have scarcely ever 
seen more troublesome than on the beach of Port Cortez. 
This annoyance, however, will disappear as soon as the 
locality becomes cleared of trees and shrubs. 

Amongst the different projects for a highway across the 
Isthmus of Central America, that of a railroad through the 
State of Honduras, from Port Cortez to the Bay of Fonseca, 
is the most promising. The advantages of the excellent 
harbour on the Atlantic side have just been mentioned. 
Those offered by the Bay of Fonseca, on the Pacific side, 
are still greater and of an extraordinary character, as it 
may justly be doubted if there be another point on the 
entire Pacific coast of America that has the natural induce- 
ments which are here afforded for a great commercial esta- 
blishment. A line of railway between these two first-class 
seaports has been surveyed and found to contain no extra- 



Chap. XI. HONDURAS INTER-OCEANIC RAILWAY. 189 

ordinary difficulty of any kind. This survey has not only 
been executed by the engineers of the company which is in 
possession of the grant from the government of Honduras, 
but Colonel E. Stanton, of the Royal Engineers, who was 
sent out by the British ministry to verify the labours and 
statements of the company's surveying corps, has corro- 
borated these results and declared the enterprise practicable 
throughout and in every respect. The length of the rail- 
way, according to these surveys, will be about 200 miles 
from sea to sea, and the time occupied between New York 
and San Francisco, by this route, will not exceed fourteen 
days, while the passage between these two places, via 
Panama, has averaged upwards of twenty-four days ; and, 
in one way or the other, all the various routes, existing or 
projected, for the purpose of connecting the eastern and 
the western world across the Central American Isthmus, 
must remain far behind the advantages * offered by the 
Honduras Inter-oceanic Railway. The Ship Canal through 
Nicaragua, it is true, if it were feasible, would be a work 
of a higher order altogether than any railway through 
Central America, whatever line the latter might follow. 
But, though we are now told that the time for the realiza- 
tion of that great project has ultimately come, we must be 
allowed to remain in doubt with regard to the question 
whether any of the existing generation will live to see ocean 
vessels pass through Nicaragua. It may be that the possi- 
bility, in an abstract sense, is only an affair of time and 
money ; but if it really be so, I venture to say that all the 
time and money left at the disposal of the present genera- 
tion from other schemes of a more urgent character will 
prove insufficient. The feasibility of a ship canal between 
Lake Nicaragua and the Pacific, though even this may be 
surrounded by difficulties arising from the necessity of 



190 HONDURAS INTER-OCEANIC RAILWAY. Book I. 

feeding the canal from the lake, is but a subordinate con- 
sideration in the matter. An incomparably greater amount 
of labour and cost will be caused by the necessity of a 
thorough canalization of the San Juan river, and of exten- 
sive constructions for the purpose of establishing an efficient 
harbour on the Atlantic as well as on the Pacific terminus 
of the line. But even if all these difficulties were at once 
overcome, the existence of the canal, no doubt, would affect 
the commerce of the world in an extraordinary manner, 
but it would by no means diminish the utility of a railway 
between Port Cortez and the Bay of Ponseca : quite on 
the contrary, it would enhance it. Then a degree of civili- 
zation and prosperity, of which we can now only form a 
faint idea, would be developed all around the shores of the 
Pacific, and every means of quick travelling and of quick 
transport of the more important articles of traffic would 
correspondingly^rise in value — a consideration under which 
the canal through Nicaragua could never pretend to com- 
pete with the Honduras railway. All this must be obvious 
to whoever takes the trouble of thoroughly considering the 
question. As to the difficulties of the Nicaragua canal 
enterprise, we ought to entertain too high an opinion of the 
intelligence and technical experience of those French gen- 
tlemen who have recently undertaken to perform the work, 
than to suppose that they do not see and completely under- 
stand the nature and difficulties of the enterprise. This, 
however, is not the matter in argument. The real pur- 
pose contemplated in beginning the canal may have nothing 
to do with the question whether it is intended to he finished. 
Amongst the other routes and projects, that of a railroad 
across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec is the only one which 
seems to compete with that through Plonduras ; but its 
advantages are entirely neutralized by the absence of har- 



Chap. XI. HONDURAS INTER-OCEANIC RAILWAY. 191 

bour accommodation on both sides. This route, moreover, 
may suit the interests of New Orleans ; but it neither cor- 
responds to those of New York nor of England. 

The steaming distances from Liverpool to San Francisco, 
touching at Jamaica, are : by way of Panama 7980 miles ; 
Nicaragua 7720 miles ; Tehuantepec 7740 miles ; Hon- 
duras 7320 miles. The distance between New York and 
San Francisco, by Panama, is 5224 miles ; by Nicaragua 
4700 miles ; by Tehuantepec 4200 miles ; by Honduras 
4121 miles — a saving by way of Honduras, as compared 
with Panama, of 1103 miles. All the advantages of the 
Honduras route, taken together, will produce a saving in 
time, as compared with that by Panama, of from eight to 
ten days between the Atlantic ports of the United States, 
as well as between Europe and California, Oregon, Van- 
couver, China, Japan, and the whole North Pacific. 

The general state of commercial and political affairs 
alone has delayed the realization of an enterprise of such 
a character, and at the head of which are men of the highest 
standing in the financial world, who are resolved to launch 
it at the right time, and are sparing no effort to secure its 
success. 



192 REMARKS ON CENTRAL AMERICA. Book I. 



CHAPTEE XII. 

General Remarks on Central America' — ■ Geographical Position and Political 
Importance — Natural Advantages and future Prospects — How the 
Interests of England and those of the United States, in reference to ^the 
Central American Question, could he harmonized — European Immigra- 
tion — Prejudices against the Climate refuted — Native Labourers fully 
available, and how to be treated. 

By its geographical position in connection with the recent 
development and future prospects of commerce and 
civilization in the countries of the Pacific Ocean, Central 
America claims an unusual degree of attention. California 
and Oregon, British Columbia, Australia, Japan and 
China : each of these names carries heavy weight in the 
scale of the political importance of Central America. No 
full justice, however, would be done to that interesting 
region, if it was to be considered only according to the 
importance attached to its different transit routes. If the 
isthmus which connects Africa and Asia, separating the 
Arabian Gulf from the Mediterranean, offers nothing to 
the civilization of the present age but the fact that it 
separates what should be connected and connects what 
might just as well be separated, the case of Central 
America is quite different. Here is an extensive country 
endowed with all the charms and wealth of nature, uniting 
the advantages of an archipelago with those of being the 
most favoured portion of a continent; a country open to 
the commerce of the world in every direction ; a country 
with a diversity of soil and climate- and a variety of sites 
suitable to every constitution, taste, and occupation — and 



Chap. XII. REMARKS ON CENTRAL AMERICA. 193 

all this within the reach of the two great Oceans of the 
world ; a country rich in many of the most precious and 
valuable productions of the mineral kingdom, nourishing 
millions of the most useful domestic animals, and capable 
of producing the most valuable commodities of the vegetable 
kingdom of every zone — from the potato, barley, and oats 
of Ireland and Scotland, up to the sugar, coffee, and 
chocolate, the cotton and indigo, the banana, the cocoa- 
nut and spices of the Eastern Archipelago ; a country 
inhabited by a people unable to govern themselves, it is 
true, either in politics or in industrial pursuits, but a people 
of excellent and very useful qualities, if well directed by 
superior intellect, and eminently fitted, by the gradations 
of caste arising from the mixture of three great races, 
to correspond to the wants of a topographical character so 
diversified. And this country is thrown by providence in 
the midst of the main stream in which the expanding 
civilization of our age has begun to move. All these com- 
bined advantages are without a parallel, and I have no 
hesitation in avowing that, according to my conviction, 
Central America, everything taken into consideration, is 
the most favoured spot on the surface of the globe ; and is 
destined to act an important and glorious part in the 
history of the future. 

The North Americans, who in such matters are gifted 
with the instinct of the pioneer — an instinct by which they 
discover the most eligible site for a new town, in what 
direction it will extend, and in what street the building 
lots will be most valuable : — the North Americans have 
understood the splendid character of Central American 
prospects ; while, if anything is beyond the conception of 
common sense, it is the system followed by England in 
this magnificent country. If England, instead of having 

o 



J 



194 ENGLISH INTERESTS IN CENTRAL AMERICA. Book I. 



\ 



contributed systematically to the titter ruin of those help- 
less republics, had followed the opposite course lending 
assistance to their liberal party — a party which has always 
been in favour of foreign immigration, religious tolerance, 
and other means of improvement and progress — a con- 
federation of Central American States would now exist, 
strong enough by the influx of population, intellect and 
capital from abroad, to preclude any idea of an annexation 
to the United States, or of the re-introduction of slavery. 
All the civil wars down to the invasion of William Walker, 
would have been avoided, and prosperous communities 
would now be in a condition to buy ten times the amount 
of British goods which the bankrupt inhabitants of ruined 
cities and neglected plantations can ever afford to purchase. 
Mosquitia and Yucatan might have formed two acceding 
States of the confederation, and I cannot see why British 
Honduras should not have contributed to raise the number 
to eight. England would not have lost; she would have 
gained in every respect by such a development of Central 
American politics : a development which has been, and 
still is, in the hands of the British Government. By 
following such a course, England would have avoided 
many disagreeable transactions and useless difficulties with 
the United States, while the result would have heightened 
British influence in American affairs in a manner too noble 
and too legitimate not to be approved in the United 
States by all the adversaries of slavery, of filibusterism, of 
imprudent territorial extension, and of political iniquity. 
Such a result would have harmonized the true interests of 
England with those of the United States, with those of 
Central America itself, and with those of civilization in 
general. 

Even now it is not too late. Whatever complications 






Chap. XII. EUROPEAN IMMIGRATION — CLIMATE. 195 

in reference to Central America may still exist, or may- 
yet originate, the aim of England should always be the 
establishment and prosperity of an independent Central 
American confederacy, strengthened by the immigration 
of hands, intellect, skill, capital, and enterprise, as they 
cannot fail to be attracted by improvements such as the 
Honduras Inter-oceanic Railway ; by the facilities thus 
offered in every sphere of intercourse with the rest of the 
world ; by the opportunity of profitable investments ; and 
by the inviting nature of the country, its beautiful scenery, 
its fertility and climate. 

Immigration, above all other sources, is destined to 
become the great means of Central American regenera- 
tion ; and in this respect it is of importance that the 
prevailing prejudices in reference to tropical climates in 
general, and especially as to the climate of Central 
America, should be refuted. 

There is no doubt that there are some unhealthy 
localities on the coasts of Central America ; Chagres, 
Aspinwall, Panama, and Ysabal may be named amongst 
them. But New Orleans, Mobile, and Charleston, with 
the whole coast of Texas, are at least^qually pernicious to 
life ; and, though slavery exists at all these places, certain 
occupations are carried on there by white men, and prin- 
cipally by Irish and German immigrants, fully as fatiguing 
and exposing as the greater part of the labour performed 
by the negro slave. Thousands of emigrants from the 
north of Europe arrive annually at New Orleans and on 
the coast of Texas, and there is not the slightest reason 
why they could not, with an equal degree of safety, reach 
the worst places on the coast of Central America. These 
worst places, however, can be avoided ; none of those 
named above being situated where an emigrant coming to 

o 2 



196 PREJUDICES AGAINST Book 1. 

settle in the country would find any inducement to esta- 
blish himself. Greytown, Bluefields, Truxillo, Port Cortez, 
and Belize would be the ports where he should land. All 
these places are healthy. Emigrants, moreover, would 
have no occasion to stay on the coast, but might at once 
proceed into the interior, where they would find a climate 
altogether superior to any within the confines of the 
United States. 

The prejudices against tropical climates in general, in- 
tentionally propagated by the jealousy of the colonial 
system of former times, have been revived and sustained 
in more recent periods by a strange concurrence of oppo- 
site interests. It has been asserted by the defenders of 
negro slavery — and those who have learned how to appre- 
ciate the lazy life of a wealthy European in a tropical 
country will declare the statement to be absolutely correct — 
that white men are unable to work in a hot climate. On 
the other hand, some of the organs of public opinion in 
the United States opposed to the extension of slavery 
and the annexation of territory where slavery could be 
introduced, not only concur in decrying the climate of 
tropical latitudes, but even surpass their antagonists in 
their denunciations. Their intention may be honest, but 
it is never judicious to support a good cause by false 
pretences. 

The following facts, not generally known in Europe, will 
contribute to throw light on the question of " white labour " 
in regions where the climate is generally supposed to exclude 
its exercise to any available extent. 

At New Orleans the market is provided with vegetables 
mostly cultivated by Germans. They are the owners of 
the greater number of gardens that surround the city, — at 
Lafayette, Algiers, the Half-way House, and Carrol ton, — 



Chap. XII. THE CLIMATE EEFUTED. 197 

in which these vegetables are grown ; — and they neither 
keep slaves nor do they employ hired negroes. If they 
are able to engage hired hands, those hands are Germans 
like themselves. 

In Western Texas, where, in certain districts, Germans 
form the greater number of the population, German farmers, 
on their own property and in good circumstances, cultivate 
the cotton by their personal labour. But there, under a 
sun as hot as it ever is in Honduras, at a short distance 
from a coast where the yellow fever rages, I have met with 
gentlemen who had been officers, professors, men of science, 
lawyers, or of similar positions in Germany, — some of whom 
had even been wealthy proprietors and used to all the 
comforts and charms of refined European life, — standing 
behind the plough ; and I have never heard them com- 
plain of this or any other agricultural occupation in the 
hot climate being injurious to health. 

In travelling through Georgia and Alabama, I became 
acquainted with a wealthy planter of Louisiana. Our con- 
versation turned upon the question of slave and free labour, 
and their relative merits, when that gentleman remarked, 
" Alabama has great resources in mineral wealth, but the 
State wants entirely a different population to turn them to 
profit. I have been a slaveholder all my lifetime ; but I 
have my eyes open." " Do you think, then," I asked him, 
" that the climate of the Carolinas, of Georgia, Alabama, 
and Louisiana, would allow negro labour to be generally 
supplanted by the free labour of white men ? " " Certainly, 
I think so," was his answer. " There are very unhealthy 
places in those States, but they are fatal to negroes also. I 
have employed Germans in occupations in which they had 
to expose themselves to the hottest sun during the whole 
day, and I found that they endured it just as well as my 






198 NATIVE LABOUBEKS AVAILABLE, Book I. 

negroes did. The pretended inability of white men to 
work in a hot climate is all nonsense." 

I have heard similar opinions from other gentlemen, 
derived from the same experience. It might be objected 
that in these cases the experience was made in countries 
where the heat of the summer months is very excessive 
indeed, but which are not exactly marked by the tropical 
features. This is true. But the pine and oak regions of 
Honduras and Guatemala have even less of what is generally 
called a tropical character, and are by far more healthy in 
many other respects. 

If the white race should be unable to perform exactly 
the same amount of labour in a hot as in a temperate 
climate, it must not be forgotten that there is no necessity 
for their doing so. In those countries where agricultural 
labour is restricted by the character of the climate, agri- 
cultural labour, in the same and perhaps in a much higher 
ratio, is more productive. 

Speaking, however, of European immigration to Central 
America, the intention cannot be to recommend that region 
to European agriculturists entirely without capital. But 
there is scarcely -any necessity for making this remark, as 
mere labouring hands seeking employment will scarcely 
find the means of getting there. Mere hands are not wanted 
in Central America, the unemployed portion of the popu- 
lation being numerous and willing enough, sufficiently 
active, and endowed with many qualities which, if well 
directed, will make them highly available. What they 
want is to be freed from military conscription, from revolu- 
tion, and civil war — to be set to work in a sensible way — 
to be directed with firmness, without the haughty and over- 
bearing manner of which Englishmen and Anglo-Americans 
are so often guilty towards their inferiors — and to be treated 



Chap. XII. AND HOW TO BE TREATED. 199 

with kindness and honesty. The last condition is most 
essential. Native employers rarely pay their labourers in 
cash, and almost universally deal with them in a fraudulent 
manner. A European settler in Honduras, or any other 
part of Central America, who knows how to act with good 
sense, firmness, conciliation, and strict integrity towards the 
natives, will never be in want of hands to carry on his work. 
The population, of course, has become lazy and disorderly 
by the long unsettled state of public affairs and by the 
general ruin of agriculture, mines, and commerce. It will 
be the gratifying lot of the promoters of enterprises such 
as the Honduras Railway, and of those who may hereafter 
settle in that region or in any other district of Central 
America, to redeem so beautiful a country from the baneful 
effects of a most deplorable period. 



Book II, 
JOURNEY FROM NEW YORK 

BY MISSOURI 

TO THE NORTH OF MEXICO; 
STAY AT CHIHUAHUA, 

AND 

RETURN THROUGH TEXAS. 



Chap. I. TRADE WITH CHIHUAHUA. 203 



CHAPTEK I. 

Objects of the Journey — Trade with Chihuahua — From New York to the 
Frontier of Missouri — Railway Journey and Scenery between New York 
and Lake Erie — Cincinnati — On the Ohio, the Mississippi, and the Missouri 
— Western Philosophers — Dangers by Steamers — Weyne City — Inde- 
pendence. 

In the spring of 1852 I made the acquaintance of Mr. 
Samuel Kaufniann, of the firm of Messrs. Mayer and Co., 
trading with Chihuahua, who invited me to accompany 
one of the transports of the Firm from Missouri to Chi- 
huahua. The back wilds of the North American Continent, 
still traversed by Indians, are even at the present day so 
unsafe and inhospitable for travelling that it is impossible 
to cross them except in parties ; and a person who has 
not the means to equip an expedition himself is obliged 
to join some other caravan. I here met with an oppor- 
tunity of this kind, with pleasant companions, and readily 
joined the party. Our caravan, which was to start from 
Independence, on the Missouri, consisted of eighteen or 
twenty waggons, each drawn by ten mules, with the 
requisite number for relays, and the complement of drivers, 
muleteers, &c. The whole party was under the conduct of 
a second partner of the Firm, Mr. H. Mayer. 

The State of Chihuahua, which is the farthest one in 
Mexico from any sea-port, has for a long time received the 
chief part of the merchandize connected with its trade by 
route through the interior of the United States — the so-called 
Santa-Fe road. On a first glance at the distances upon the 
map, this appears scarcely conceivable ; but the fact is ex- 
plained when the attending circumstances are known. The 



204 TBADE WITH CHIHUAHUA. Book II. 

extraordinary facility of the transport by railways, canals, 
and steamers on the rivers in the United States from New 
York to the Missouri — the natural facilities of the roads 
through the prairies west of that river — the cheapness of 
journeying in this country, where the feed of the draught- 
cattle costs little or nothing — the bold spirit of enterprize, 
and the skilful management of the transport in the United 
States — lastly, the origin of this intercourse from the 
pedlar-trade on the frontiers and the traffic with the 
Indians — have for some time given to this route, although 
about six times the length of the distance of Chihuahua 
from the nearest Mexican port, a preference to the transport 
on beasts of burden over the difficult passes of the moun- 
tains of Mexico, with the indolence and timidity of the 
Mexicans. Of late years, however, these commercial rela- 
tions have undergone a change. The North Americans 
have begun to prefer the much shorter journey by Texas 
to the Missouri route, as the rapid advance of the colo- 
nization of Western Texas enables the traders to provide 
themselves here with draught-cattle and provisions for the 
journey to Northern Mexico; and the Mexican Govern- 
ment under Santa Ana, by raising the import dues, and 
enforcing them strictly on the United States frontier, while 
facilitating the importations through the sea-ports of the 
country, enabled the merchandize brought to Chihuahua 
from the south by the interior to be sold cheaper than that 
carried to El Paso across the frontiers, either from the 
Missouri or Texas. At the time, however, to which my 
narrative refers, this change had not yet been effected; 
and the caravan with which I travelled still preferred the 
longest of all possible routes. The merchandize sent by 
railway and steamboat to the Missouri, was loaded on 
waggons at Weyne City (near Independence), and was 



Chap. I. RAILWAY JOURNEY. 205 

thus conveyed to New Mexico, and down the Eio Grande 
to El Paso, where it passed the frontier, and thence to the 
town of Chihuahua. El Paso was at that time the only 
place of entry on the Chihuahua frontier. The Presidio 
del Norte, further south on the Eio Grande, has since been 
added as a second, and the road through Texas has thus 
acquired a decided preference. 

These commercial expeditions through the interior of 
the Continent are attended by considerable danger to life 
as well as property, and great personal courage and perse- 
verance are required to bear the fatigue and privations 
attending them. It is the more surprising to find German 
Jews taking a prominent part in this commerce, and 
exhibiting a fearless courage rarely attributed to the 
Jewish nation. 

In company with Mr. H. Mayer I started from New 
York on the morning of the 16th of June; the steam-ferry 
conveyed us over the North Eiver to Jersey City, where 
we took the train for Dunkerke on Lake Erie. The rail- 
way is constructed in the bold and careless manner peculiar 
to the North Americans. We were swept along on rails 
laid down upon the edge of steep mountain declivities, 
or^ round projecting rocks, through the wooded and 
mountainous country. The air was close, and the rocking 
and shaking motion of the carriage, together with the dust 
and heat, extremely fatiguing. The country, however, 
offered a refreshing aspect ; for some distance the railway 
runs at a considerable height along a mountain ridge, with 
views alternating right and left into the wooded valleys. 
From the Delaware to Lake Erie the country increases 
in beauty: the railway runs through green valleys, richly 
watered by rivulets, between beautifully wooded hills. The 



206 THE FORESTS OF OHIO. Book II. 

pine forests prevailing on the Delaware give way to a 
different class of trees, and only a hemlock-fir or white 
pine, here and there, stands amidst oaks, maples, locusts, 
and other trees of foliage. On the meadows and clearings 
stand new houses, singly or in groups, indicating the first 
lines of streets in towns still to be built. Everywhere the 
natural wealth of the country and the active industry of 
man were to be seen. We travelled over the last portion 
of this road in the night, and embarked at Dunkerke on 
Lake Erie for Cleveland. 

The night on the lake was tranquil and pleasantly 
cool. In the morning we coasted the shore, which is flat, 
covered with wood, but cleared in many places. Here and 
there stands a single house. Most of the farms of this 
country are situated somewhat inland, and are not visible 
from the water. Early in the morning we reached Cleve- 
land. 

The site of this town on the high bank of Lake Erie is 
uncommonly fine ; but we were not allowed to stop there. 
On landing from the steamboat, we immediately entered 
the railway carriages ; in a few minutes we were out of 
sight of the town, and proceeded without stop through the 
forests of Ohio. 

In this section the traveller has an opportunity of seeing 
the whole beauty of North American forest scenery. The 
grouping of the masses, and the varieties of form and 
colouring, are endless, and often present the most beautiful 
effects, in which the tall and slender elms, with their thick 
and yet light foliage, are prominent features. 

An accident deprived me of even a passing view of a great 
part of the State of Ohio. Between La Grange and Well- 
ington, shortly before our arrival, a collision of two trains 



Chap. I. CINCINNATI. ■ 207 

had happened. The wreck presented a picture of the 
fearful effects of velocity, — an immense heap of debris of 
smashed carriages. Whether any lives were lost I could 
not ascertain, and the passengers in our train talked of 
nothing but the disagreeable delay caused by the acci- 
dent; — this seemed to be their only care. It was im- 
possible to wait for a clearance of the track ; we had 
therefore to get out and walk to Wellington, at no 
great distance, and there await a train from Cincinnati, 
to exchange its passengers with our train, and take us 
to that place. Meanwhile a great storm came on. The 
rain poured down in streams, and compelled the passen- 
gers, three to four hundred in number, to remain crowded 
together until eight o'clock in the evening in a small room, 
— the only one in which we could obtain shelter. The rest 
of the route was travelled in tbe night, and during incessant 
torrents of rain we reached Cincinnati at daybreak. 

We were obliged to remain four days in this city. 
Various matters of business connected with our journey 
had to be transacted, and Mr. M. intended to be married 
here. In the United States this ceremony, with all its 
preparations, can be performed in half an hour, and to 
devote a whole day to it would be a waste of time. But 
the lady was to accompany her husband on the long and 
arduous journey to Chihuahua, and might therefore claim 
a few days. The stoppage gave me an opportunity to see 
the city and its environs. The hill at the foot of which 
Cincinnati is built commands a splendid view over the 
city, over the valley of the Ohio, and the surrounding 
hills. It reminds me somewhat of the valley of the 
Neckar ; but the country around Cincinnati is on a much 
larger scale, and the more luxuriant trees of this region 
give it a more southern character. The tall elms on the 



208 PASSAGE TO LOUISVILLE. Book II. 

other side of the Ohio give to the town of Covington 
quite an aristocratic appearance. On this side Cincinnati 
branches inland, into all the little valleys or defiles between 
the hills which enclose the chief valley ; while at the same 
time the city rises on the side of them, and — with some 
detached houses in the finest situations— even reaches the 
top of the elevation. The hills on this side are more 
considerable than those on the Kentucky side ; and, while 
the latter are wooded, groups of trees are scattered over 
the former on a kind of lawn, or around the country-houses, 
commanding the most beautiful points of view. These 
hills seem formed for the growth of the vine, and the vine- 
yards here and there complete a certain European aspect, 
which appears to me to distinguish Cincinnati from other 
American towns. 

In the afternoon of the 23rd we left Cincinnati. The rainy 
weather obliged us to remain in the cabin of the steamboat, 
in which we had taken a passage to Louisville. In the 
evening I went on deck for a moment. The boat, like all 
the western steamers, was one of those large and elegant, 
but unsolid edifices, in which the motion of the machine 
and of the water is felt throughout the whole structure. 
The planks of the deck bent under my footsteps, and the 
whole woodwork of the vessel shared the motion and 
trembling of the river waves. It seemed as if it must 
have gone to pieces every instant. 

Early the next morning we reached Louisville, and on 
the following day embarked for St. Louis. It was the 
25th of June, and it may not be uninteresting to mention 
that in the morning we breakfasted in the saloon with a 
fire. The sun's rays were hot, but the air was chilly in the 
shade. 

Our voyage lay the whole day between wooded hills, 



Chap. I. WESTEKN PHILOSOPHY. 209 

horizontal limestone strata cropping out here and there. 
Alternately right and left lay a, beautiful plain on the 
concave side of the river bends. We occasionally passed 
some commencement of a village, consisting of a few 
houses, or a single house, with a small plot of cultivated 
land. The shores were generally wooded. Oaks and elms, 
with occasionally pines, appeared to be the predominant 
trees. The next morning we had before us flat shores, 
with groves of poplars, succeeded on the left side, below the 
mouth of the Wabash, by hills, which continued as far as 
Paduca, toward the mouth of the Tennesee. On the Ohio 
I observed no other animals than a large dark-grey heron, 
some carrion vultures, and numerous small white gulls. In 
the evening, after sunset, we reached Cairo, and ran into 
the Mississippi. 

I was interested by a conversation I overheard between 
two of my travelling companions, a Kentucky farmer, and 
a methodist preacher from Indiana. It began with the 
subject of steamboats, and passed on to that of flying- 
machines; which led the farmer — a shrewd little old 
man, with a bald pate and white curls behind his ears — 
to speak of the flight of angels and spirits. The preacher 
said he had heard of the invention of a machine which 
was propelled "by electricity, like the flight of the 
eagle." 

"What is your idea, sir, of the spirits of men after 
death ?" asked the little farmer. " Do you think they 
will be able to move with extraordinary velocity from one 
place to another ? " 

" Unquestionably," answered the preacher. 

" Well," continued the farmer, " but as to the angels 
there's a difficulty I can't get over, and I am curious, sir, 
to know your opinion on the subject. You will allow that 

p 



210 WESTERN PHILOSOPHY. Book II. 

even a spirit cannot be in two places at the same time. 
Now, when God sends the angels upon earth for the 
service of man, and gives them a commission, they will have 
to convey information and receive fresh instructions ; and 
the question is, how quickly they are able to do this : 
for if they are to help man, and have first to fly away 
and fetch instructions, this might take too much time, 
and the help come too late." 

The minister sought to remove these scruples by ob- 
serving that spirits can receive instructions in any place, 
since they are everywhere "in that spiritual atmosphere 
which unites them with the Lord." The farmer, however, 
seemed to take a peculiar pleasure in his casuistry, and to 
be little satisfied with this reasoning. 

The conversation here took a turn, and passed to the 
rapping spirits and the Misses Fox of Rochester, when a 
third gentleman joined the party. All three were entirely 
opposed to the theory. The farmer said he would believe 
the ladies if they did not take money ; but, as it was> he 
considered the rapping of their spirits a mere money spe- 
culation. " And the chief speculation is still to come," 
added the minister, who had evidently some experience in 
such matters. u A book will be written, containing a 
collection of the revelations of spirits ; the book will be 
declared a sacred one, and much money will be obtained 
by its sale." He appeared to have a prejudice against 
unorthodox spirits, but at the same time made this scien- 
tific observation, — that whenever a sound was made, like the 
spirit-rapping, it could only be in accordance with natural 
laws. " The matter," observed the farmer, " is the cause of 
much unhappiness ;" adding, that " in the lunatic asvlum 
of the State of Kentucky there were fifteen lacnos who 
had gone insane from these spiritual tricks. A young lady 






Chap. I. DANGERS BY STEAMERS. 211 

received a letter pretending to be written by a spirit, in 
which she was called on to write to her deceased parents : 
if they had been received among the blessed they would 
reply immediately. The girl did as she was directed, and, 
receiving no answer, concluded that her parents were 
amongst the condemned. This conviction affected her 
so much that she lost her reason." " I cannot say whether 
the spirits really exist or not," observed the third gentle- 
man ; " but, even if they do, I see no practical utility in 
it." In this all agreed, and so the conversation dropped. 

The next day we passed some beautiful parts of the 
Valley of the Mississippi. The hills (or bluffs, as they are 
called) occasionally approached close to the river, and their 
steep, often rocky, acclivities imparted a peculiar character 
to this otherwise monotonous landscape of wood and water. 

At night we reached St. Louis, where we stopped two 
days for business connected with the objects of our journey. 
I had only a few hours free, to pay a visit to some 
friends resident in this town and to make some new and 
valuable acquaintances. Of the town and its environs I 
saw too little to add anything to what is already known of 
St. Louis. 

On the 30th we embarked for Weyne City, a small 
place, consisting of a few houses, which may be called the 
harbour of Independence. We left St. Louis at noon, 
and in the afternoon reached the mouth of the Missouri, 
whose thick and yellow water contrasts strongly with the 
clear stream of the Upper Mississippi. This difference is 
perceptible even far below St. Louis, after the confluence, 
on the two sides of the united stream — nay, in fact, as far 
down »«* the mouth of the Ohio, until the whole Mississippi 
graductny becomes one and the same clayey stream. On 
entering the Missouri our steamer had to struggle against 

p 2 



212 DANGEES BY STEAMEES. Book II. 

a strong current. At the confluence of these two rivers 
their outer shores are high and form flat hills. 

Towards evening, the western shore of the Missouri 
was formed by a fine wooded highland, at the foot of 
which extends a long low bank of horizontal limestone 
strata. Oaks, locust-trees, lime-trees, elms, sycamores, 
with every description of underwood, shade this rocky 
bank, and numerous springs gush forth at its base. Here 
and there stands some miserable log-house, inhabited by 
Frenchmen of the old Missouri population, whose culti- 
vated land probably lies at the back of the hills, no trace 
of cultivation being visible near the river. 

A thunderstorm obliged us to lay to for the night. As we 
proceeded next morning, the shores of the river rose on each 
side, high and wooded ; in some clearing was occasionally 
seen a house, surrounded by a patch of meadow. The 
bottom-land near the river is overgrown with* poplars, 
sycamores, and willows. The river washes away the shores 
here and there on each side, carrying the old trees into 
the water. At these spots, on the opposite side, sand- 
banks are formed — a new shore — which is soon so thickly 
covered by a young growth of poplars, plane-trees, and 
willows, that at a distance it has more the appearance of 
a luxuriant cornfield than of a young forest. The forests 
on the banks of the river thus being composed of portions 
of a different age, give an agreeable variation to the land- 
scape. 

Jefferson City, the capital of Missouri, which we passed 
at noon on July 2nd, is a small place, consisting mostly 
of scattered houses, built on a high bank cleared of 
trees and furrowed by ravines. The Capitol, a large 
stone building, with a semicircular portico and a tower 
with a cupola in the centre, stands on a green hill, just 



Chap. I. DANGERS BY STEAMERS. 213 

above the river, surmounting a rocky bank. In the night 
we passed Boonville, in the morning Glasgow, and later 
in the day Brunswick. Of all the places I have seen 
on this river, Miami is the most beautifully situated, 
on a steep grassy hill, crowned with oaks, and rising 
somewhat abruptly from the river. Before reaching Lex- 
ington, the next day, I saw, upon a sandbank in the river, 
a long line of wild geese, which kept up a comical race 
with our steamer. It was indeed laughable to see the 
efforts the stupid animals made to prevent our passing 
them, whilst our boat was moving slowly against the strong 
current. Lexington is situated partly upon a height, partly 
at its foot, on the bank of the river, every house having 
immediately in the rear its own coal-pit. The entire hill, 
on the side of which a coal stratum crops out, is perforated 
in this manner. On the shore were lying the remains of 
a steamboat, which had been blown up here a few months 
before. In the middle of the hill-side stood some elm- 
trees, upon one of which the body of the captain had been 
flung. Several hundred persons lost their lives by this 
accident. Were it the custom here — as it is in Mexico, 
in places where murders have been committed — to erect 
memorials at places where these accidents by steam have 
occurred, such mementos mori would never be out of sight, 
either on the steamboats or in the railway carriages of the 
United States. 

The Missouri here makes a great bend — a rapid and 
impetuous river, difficult to navigate. Its current, on the 
side of the convex shore, is impeded by large sandbanks ; 
and on the side of the concave bank it is so choked by 
sunken trees (snags) that it is difficult to steer a boat between 
these obstructions. A few miles from the mouth of the 
Fishing river, below Sibley, formerly Fort Osage, we 



214 WEYNE CITY. Book II. 

actually ran upon one of these snags, in which one wheel 
of our boat was caught. The steamer cracked and fell 
on her side, the water rushed over the lower deck and 
extinguished the fire. Boxes, casks, and a quantity of 
furniture which formed part of the freight, fell from the 
lower, middle, and upper decks into the water, and floated 
down the river, together with our firewood. The boat 
had meanwhile got extricated, but she was now carried 
down the river sideways, and ran the risk of drifting 
upon other snags and being broken in two. However, 
we succeeded in reaching the shore, and lay to. At 
the moment the boat fell on one side supper had just been 
served : the tables were . upset ; plates and dishes, jugs, 
cups and saucers, and all the good things prepared for us, 
lay scattered on the floor, and we had to wait until eleven 
o'clock before a fresh supper could be prepared. The 
coolness of the Americans — even of the female sex — on 
such occurrences is exemplary, and compensates in a great 
measure for their carelessness. The visible danger in 
which on this occasion we were placed did not at all 
interrupt the cheerful conversation of the ladies, who were 
gathered on the stern of the vessel. After six hours' 
labour the boat was free to continue her voyage by moon- 
light, but we had still to work our way for four or five 
miles through a dangerous passage, beset with innumerable 
snags, before getting into safe navigable water, which we 
reached at one o'clock in the morning. 

The next morning, under a clear sky, such a fresh west 
wind met us that the steamer, which had great difficulty in 
making head against the stream, was almost stopped in 
her course. At noon, however, we reached Weyne City, 
where we disembarked. 

The air had been agreeably cool on the river ; on shore 



Chap. I. INDEPENDENCE. 215 

the heat was oppressive, for which this place is noted. In 
the evening a carriage arrived from Independence, which 
conveyed us to this first station of our journey. The 
distance is about four miles inland. The ascent from the 
river to the higher country is by a steep hill and very bad, 
but a tolerable road leads from hence to the town. Upon 
this road I now saw before me a journey of about fifteen 
hundred English miles. 



216 STAY AT INDEPENDENCE. Book II. 



CHAPTER II. 

Stay at Independence — Frontier Places of Missouri — Caravans of Traders 
and Emigrants — Means of Conveyance — Northern and Southern Metho- 
dists — Negro Belief — Censorship and Indulgence — A Religious Curiosity 
— Historical and Political Views — A Political Murder — Preparations for 
Departure — Beyond the Limits of Civilization. 

Independence is a small town, with the character of a 
frontier place engaged in an extensive carrying trade. At a 
distance of ten to twelve miles from it, on the road to Santa 
Fe, were the last farms, on the edge of the great Prairie, and 
at a few days' journey further the road to Qregon sepa- 
rates from that to New Mexico and Chihuahua. The town 
is surrounded by wheelwrights' shops, large premises filled 
with new waggons, painted red, green, or blue, and the whole 
trade of the place consists in supplying the wants of trading 
and emigrant caravans, which start from this and from a 
few other stations on the Missouri for New Mexico, Utah, 
California, and Oregon. At certain times of the year the 
intercourse with these distant countries imparts great ani- 
mation to this small town. During the last spring the 
number of emigrants to California collected here had been 
very large, and the place is said to have resembled a fair, 
although those people generally live encamped outside the 
town. The season for these trains was now too far advanced, 
it being no longer possible to pass the Salt Lake before the 
winter. Some emigrants, however, who intended to winter 
among the Mormons, had still time for their journey, and 
the communication with Santa Fe and Mexico is not 
entirely stopped even in winter, although a journey across 



Chap. II. FRONTIER PLACES OF MISSOURI. 217 

the prairies at that season is always dangerous and fatiguing. 
Formerly Independence had the exclusive benefit of this 
communication " over the plains/' as this far western 
region is designated; but at the time of my visit West- 
port, lying twelve miles higher up the Missouri, disputed 
the monopoly. Still higher up succeed Fort Leavenworth, 
Weston, St. Joseph, and Council Bluffs — all starting-points 
for emigrants to California, Utah, and Oregon. Beside 
these, the Mormons have Kanesville, opposite St. Joseph, 
whence their caravans usually depart for the New Jeru- 
salem on the Salt Lake. I cannot say what changes may 
have taken place since. From the extensive region west 
of Missouri, which, at that time, was still belonging to 
the Indians, the two territories of Kansas and Nebrasca 
have since been formed, and many a new town has since 
risen into existence in the last few years. The whole 
first part of my journey passed through what is now 
called Kansas, a region become famous in the history 
of the struggles between the enemies and advocates of 
slavery. 

Then we here were in one of those towns which, situated 
on the limits of a desert, may be compared to a harbour ; 
and perhaps, in spite of the new settlements of Kansas, 
Independence may have maintained this character. The 
camel has been called the ship of the desert ; but until the 
camels introduced of late into Texas by the Government of 
the United States shall have increased sufficiently to play 
a similar part in the New World, the trader's waggon must 
be called the ship of the prairie : and indeed the waggon 
drawn by mules stands in the same relation to that drawn 
by oxen as the steamboat to the sailing-vessel. Formerly 
oxen were here used in preference as draught-cattle for the 
journeys across the prairies; but mules have gradually 



218 BEUTAL TEEATMENT Book II. 

superseded them. Teams of mules are quicker than yokes 
of oxen, and the mule is also better able to endure heat and 
want of water. Mules, however, cost three times as much 
as oxen, and in the Indian territory they are a property far 
more in danger. Oxen are seldom stolen by the Indians, 
whereas the stealing of mules is regarded by them as a great 
and honourable exploit. The large demand for draught- 
cattle of both kinds for the numerous caravans travelling 
west, has naturally given a considerable stimulus to cattle- 
breeding in the State of Missouri. The mules reared here 
are noted for their beauty, size, and strength, and although 
inferior to the small Mexican mules in briskness and en- 
durance, they readily find purchasers even in Mexico, where 
they are sought for chiefly for carriage teanjs: the trading 
caravans, therefore, passing between the Missouri frontier 
and Northern Mexico generally bring back only part of 
their mules. From California, Oregon, and Utah, draught- 
cattle very rarely return to the east : a part of them die 
on the road — a much larger proportion of oxen than mules 
— which is partly owing to the former having much less 
power of endurance, and partly to their not being treated 
with the same care, being a less valuable property. In this 
manner the caravans across the prairies cause a very con- 
siderable traffic in animals, independent of the exportation 
of cattle to California and Oregon. 

I remained at Independence from July 5 to August 17, 
our caravan being detained for the arrival of merchandize 
from New York and by the purchase of the necessary mules. 
During my stay here I witnessed the stupid and brutal 
treatment to which draught-cattle are sometimes exposed. 
It is perhaps natural : waggoners are in no country noted 
for their refinement, and least of all can we expect to find 
this in a system of transport, in which the labour of the 



Chap. II. OF DKAUGHT CATTLE. 219 

teamster almost equals that of his beasts. The worst 
instances of such cruelty I imagined I had witnessed in 
Nicaragua with the ox-carts ; but what I saw in this town 
far exceeded the goading practised with lances by the Nica- 
raguan carreteros, although the animals are often covered 
with blood. In front of a house in which I was staying, an 
ox, one of a team of eight pairs, fell down from exhaustion, 
after toiling up the four miles of bad road from the Mis- 
souri, and, in spite of beating, kicking, and other drivers' 
resources, the poor creature was quite unable to recover its 
legs, strangled as it was by the yoke. The men twisted its 
tail and pulled it until it almost gave way. Yain ingenuity ! 
Then, in order to rouse him, they trod on the nostrils of 
the half-strangled beast, which was lying with its muzzle 
on the ground, panting heavily, and alternately snorting 
and inhaling the dust. All was in vain, and severer means 
were now resorted to : a small quantity of gunpowder was 
placed under the animal's nostrils and fired. The effect 
was magical ; but it showed itself in the other beast 
under the same yoke, which made the most extraordinary 
bounds, stamped with its fore-legs on the body of its fellow- 
ox, twisting the head of the latter with the yoke, and 
threatening to break its neck. Not until after exhausting 
all these efforts and torments was the poor creature re- 
leased from the yoke, and a pailful of cold water poured 
over it. The animal with difficulty now raised itself on 
its tottering legs, and as soon as it succeeded it made a 
fierce rush on the nearest of its tormentors, who, I am 
sorry to say, escaped. The ox was now removed, and 
died the next day. 

Independence, with its environs, then contained four 
thousand inhabitants and seven churches. There were 



220 NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN METHODISTS. Book H. 

both northern and southern Methodists resident here — 
the former appealing to the authority of the Bible against, 
and the latter in favour of, slavery. The northern Metho- 
dists admit amongst them none who keep slaves ; but the 
slaves themselves, of course, belong to the southern Metho- 
dists. " It is the will of God that the blacks are to be 
slaves," said a negro, who was preaching during my stay 
here ; "we must bear our fate ; but in a future world we 
shall be white men and free." A German whom I met 
here told me that the blacks believe the damned among the 
negroes to become monkeys; but if in this shape they behave 
well, they are advanced to the state of a negro again, and 
bliss is eventually possible to them, consisting in their turn- 
ing white, becoming winged, and so on. Whether such ideas 
are fostered by the Christian clergy I do not know, but I am 
almost inclined to this opinion ; nor am I able to say what 
position in Missouri a sect may at the present time hold who 
exclude from their church every slaveholder : the struggles 
in and about Kansas must, however, render this position 
somewhat critical. At Independence I heard much said 
about the strict discipline observed by the Methodists with 
regard to morality and manners. A young lady was ex- 
pelled from their church for having danced on a Sunday, 
and a young man had received a warning for having attended 
a circus. But it is a remarkable fact, as I have been 
assured, that the church grants a furlough for sinning — that 
is to say, she permits a temporary separation from the 
community, which permission is taken advantage of by 
those who wish to seek the amusements of the world. 
This is evidently analogous to an indulgence granted by 
the Roman Catholic Church, and it is an interesting 
proof, in an historical point of view, that endeavours to 



Chap. II. 



A EELIGIOUS CUEIOSITY. 



221 



establish principles with excessive severity render a com- 
promise with their opposite inevitable. 

Now that I am on the subject of religion, I will here 
mention a singular book which fell into my hands at 
Independence, and which I perused for want of another. 
It contains the confessions, religious opinions, and justifi- 
cations of Mr. Warder Cresson, of Philadelphia, who was 
first a Quaker, then a Shaker, then a Millerite, and lastly 
made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and there became a Jew. 
On his return his family took steps to get him declared 
insane and have him sent to an asylum : Mr. Cresson, 
however, instituted a desperate lawsuit, which he won. 
The characteristic part in this man's state of mind is 
the combination of the wildest fanaticism with the most 
prosaic realism. He insists on interpreting every sentence 
in the Old Testament according to the letter : the passage 
" Blessed are they who walk on the ways of Jerusalem " 
is, in his view, a command to him to leave his family and 
all his interests in Philadelphia, and to repair to Jerusalem 
by the shortest route. He advises every one to do the 
same, and, for the convenience of all who are willing to 
follow his advice, he gives the following information at the 
end of his book : " From Philadelphia to Jerusalem 21 days 
and a quarter : first class, 190 dollars 75 cents. ; second 
class, 135 dollars 50 cents." 1 In the year 1854, accord- 
ing to Mr. Cresson's interpretation, the kingdom of God 
was to commence, when every one judged worthy was to 
receive his portion of the inheritance at Jerusalem ; and 
the fear of receiving less than others appears to have been 



1 'The key of David. David is the 
true Messiah, &c. &c. Also Keasons 
for becoming a Jew ; with a Revision 



of the late Law-suit for Lunacy on that 
account. By Warder Cresson.' Phila- 
delphia, 5612. 



222 HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL VIEWS. Book II. 

a principal motive for his journey thither — a trait which 
depicts clearly the realistic character of the course of ideas 
that urged this strange man to embrace Judaism. 

At Independence I made the acquaintance of a man 
who in his way is no less singular than Mr. Warder 

Cresson. Mr. , who though known in the State of 

Missouri for his eccentricity, nevertheless holds a re- 
spected position, has, for a North- American, the most 
extravagant views of political life and interests. He 
regards the "American" as the "most ancient and 
primitive civilization of mankind," and laments that this 
is not acknowledged by the world at large. This culture, 
he admits, has become degenerate in America itself; 
but in China it is still found in a pure state. Hence 
salvation must come to America from China, and this 
consists in the introduction of the " Chinese constitution," 
viz. the " patriarchal democracy of the Celestial Empire." 
The political life of the United States is, "through European 
influences," in a state of complete demoralization, and the 
Chinese constitution alone contains the elements of regene- 
ration. For this reason a railroad to the Pacific is of such 
vast importance, since by its means the Chinese trade will 
be conducted straight across the North- American continent. 
This trade must bring in its train Chinese civilization. 
All that is usually alleged against China is mere calumny, 
spread purposely, just like those calumnies which are cir- 
culated in Europe about the United States. Mr. 

belongs to the class of American malcontents, in whose 
character is mixed an immeasurable portion of national 
conceit with a general discontent at the state of things in 
the United States. This class of people is not rare, and 
belong to the better elements of the Know-nothing order. 



Chap. II. HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL VIEWS. 223 

These characters, with their forced American nationality, 
represent the reverse of our former long-haired Teutonists. 
"We Germans," said the latter, "are the first people 
in the world : at present, it is true, matters stand badly 
with us; but our ancestors, they were a people!" The 
former say, " We Americans are the first people in the 
world : at present, it is true, matters stand very badly with 
us ; but our descendants, they will be a people !" But as 
the sons of Arminius, proud of their past, understood that a 
past has no value if it has no future, and therefore prepared 
themselves for this future by their athletic exercises ; so the 
sons of Uncle Sam, proud of their future, seem to opine that 
a future, without a past, is of no value, and therefore they 
attempt to found an American culture upon Indianism. 

" We want the prestige of antiquity," said Mr. , to 

me ; " but we have it ! See the Indian mounds in our 
West ! " It was upon this tendency of the American 
mind, which is not exclusively peculiar to the United 
States, but is also met with in the Spanish-American 
countries, that the cunning founder of the Mormon sect 
originally calculated, in making the American Indians 
play so prominent a part in the sacred history he invented. 
It is an endeavour, mentally and historically, as has been 
done politically, to emancipate themselves from Europe; and 
they imagine they can attain this object by denying their 
physical and mental origin. In the same manner the 
Mexicans, at the time of their separation from Spain, called 
themselves the sons of Montezuma — hijos de Montezuma. 
The history of how many a people may in the earliest 
times of mankind have been falsified in this manner ! 

Our waggons were loaded at Weyne City in the first week 
of August, and drawn by hired teams of oxen on to the open 



224 BEYOND THE LIMITS OF CIVILIZATION. Book II. 

prairie, where, in charge of Mexican lads, our mules had 
been out at grass. On the 17th of August, in company 
with Mr. Mayer and his wife, I followed the caravan, 
which, when we overtook it, had already passed the frontier 
of the State of Missouri, and entered the large tract which 
at that time still belonged to the Indians west of the 
United States, but is now opened to the colonization of the 
whites, under the name of the Kansas territory. 



Chap. III. THE CARAVAX. 225 



CHAPTER III. 

The Caravan, its Arrangements — Waggons, Freight and Requirements for 
the Journey — The Commander and his Men — Anglo-Americans and 
Mexicans — Man and Animal — Characteristic of the Mule — Aristocrats, 
Mes-alliances, Parvenus, and Rabble in the Animal Kingdom — The First 
Breaking-in and Harnessing Wild Mules — The Corral — Order of Journey 
and Prarie Roads — The Camp and its Comforts — Night Watches, and 
Usages of Caravan Life — Astronomical and Musical Amusements — Dan- 
gerous Charms of the Wilderness. 

Before inviting the reader to accompany me on the long 
journey from Missouri to Chihuahua, I must endeavour to 
give him a general idea of the arrangement and locomo- 
tion of a caravan on its journey through the western 
wildernesses of the North American continent. 

The waggons generally carry from five to six thousand 
pounds weight, and are yoked with five pairs, if drawn, like 
ours, by mules. A single driver guides them, now seated 
on the saddled mule, now walking by the side. In difficult 
places the drivers assist one another, and sometimes the 
teams have to be doubled : that is to say, the three or 
four fore pairs of the one waggon are attached in a line 
to the other, in order to get the waggons over some height 
or through some deep morass. On these occasions sometimes 
eight or ten men are engaged about a single waggon. As 
the caravan must keep together, it can only proceed, under 
such circumstances, a few English miles in a day. I shall 
hereafter have occasion to speak of an effort that occupied a 
fortnight to get twenty-six waggons over the short distance 
of twelve English miles. In other parts, on the contrary, 
the roads across the prairies are so good that seventy to 
eighty miles can be travelled in four and twenty hours, if 

Q 



228 WAGGONS, FKEIGHT, Book IL 

want of water (as is often the case in these parts) renders 
it necessary to travel so quickly. Of this likewise I shall 
have occasion to mention a few instances. 

The waggons are very strongly built, and their dura- 
bility is almost inconceivable. They suffer mostly from 
the dryness of the air on reaching the higher regions 
of the West, and for this reason the wheels must 
be watered whenever an opportunity offers. Without 
some unfortunate accident, however, a good teamster 
can take his waggon across the continent without incurring 
any breakage. Nevertheless, a caravan carries with it 
the most important articles of harness and parts of the 
waggon in extra quantities, so that a broken axle, a 
worn-out collar, or a broken chain, &c., can be instantly 
replaced. 

A store of shoes for the mules, which are not always 
shod,, and seldom completely, must likewise be taken ; 
and wheelwrights' tools, shovels and hoes, windlasses, 
levers, crowbars, axes, and hatchets for cutting wood, are 
also indispensable articles. 

The provender consists of flour, bacon, dried beans, 
coffee, and sugar. Spirits are never given on these 
journeys, unless the master or conductor of the caravan is 
induced by great toil or especial privations to unlock his 
holy of holies, and to give his men a portion to refresh 
them. Brandy is only taken as medicine ; but coffee, on 
the contrary, is an indispensable article, and is drunk twice 
a day in large quantities. The refreshing and strengthen- 
ing effect of this drink, under great toils, in heat as well 
as cold, in rain and dry, is extraordinary. The dried 
beans form one chief article of food — the indispensable fri- 
joles of the Mexicans and all the other Spanish Americans ; 
but all depends on the kind of beans and the mode of pre- 



Chap. HI. AND REQUIREMENTS FOR THE JOURNEY. 227 

paring them. They are boiled in water till soft*, a part of 
the water is then evaporated, and a pan, with some fat in it, 
is placed on the fire ; the beans are poured into it, salt is 
added, they are left to stew for a moment, and the most 
savoury and nourishing food a hungry traveller can desire is 
prepared. It is well known that this dish is never wanting 
at the most luxurious Mexican table, where it invariably 
concludes the meal before the dessert is served ; but to do 
full justice to it pure soft water is required. The broth, 
as is well known, contains the most nutritious part, and, 
indeed, I have often taken it out of the kettle and drank 
it, when returning from my night-watch to the camp-fire, 
hungry, frozen, and exhausted, and have found it as good 
and as strengthening as a cup of broth. Bread is daily 
baked in the camp, and is generally eaten hot. 

For the chief table of our caravan, to which I had the 
advantage to belong, we had a quantity of choice delicacies 
with us, — preserved meats and fine vegetables, cauli- 
flowers, asparagus, oysters and lobsters, sardines in oil, 
delicate hams, pickles and preserved fruits, tea and cho- 
colate, claret and champagne. For these luxuries we 
were indebted to the presence of a lady in our caravan ; 
but the gentlemen of such a party of travellers are gene- 
rally provided with some of these articles. Sardines are 
especial favourites, and their consumption in the prairies 
is so large that the track of tin boxes strewn along the route 
is alone a sufficient clue to mark the road from Independ- 
ence to Santa Fe. 

The caravan has to be amply provided with arms and 
ammunition. Every driver and muleteer is called upon to 
furnish himself with a gun in good order, a rifle or musket, 
— which he must always have at hand, — and many carry 
pistols also. I had myself a brace of six-barrelled re- 

Q 2 



228 THE COMMANDER AND HIS MEN. Book II. 

volvers, of the army bore, with a double-barrelled gun, so 
that I had always fourteen shots at command. Mr. Mayer 
and our waggon-master were armed in the same manner. 

The caravan is likewise furnished with a store of 
clothes, shoes, hats, knives, tobacco, and other articles of 
daily want ; the proprietor or conductor generally under- 
taking the task of providing all the articles which the 
party require for their equipment. An account for these 
is opened with each driver and servant, to be repaid out of 
their future wages. The prices are fixed very high, and 
with reason, as losses are unavoidable ; and as during the 
journey a great quantity of these articles is consumed, 
there remains to a man, at the end of it, out of his 
wages (twelve to twenty dollars a month), seldom more 
than the means of making himself merry a few days, 
like the sailor on shore ; after which he is obliged to seek 
fresh service, either returning by the same road or pro- 
ceeding on by another. Thus we find on the prairie-roads, 
and at the stations on their limits, a moving population 
of drivers and muleteers, which we can only compare to 
sailors at sea and in port; and everywhere in travelling in 
these parts — at Independence or Westport on the Mis- 
souri, at Santa Fe or El Paso on the Rio Grande, at 
Chihuahua in Northern Mexico, at San Antonio in Texas, 
at Los Angeles in California, or in the Mormon city on the 
great Salt Lake — the traveller will, from time to time, meet 
again the same fellows, lounging about like idle sailors on 
the landing-place of a harbour. 

The commander of a caravan is the waggon-master : 
the Mexicans entitle him the mayor-domo. The pro- 
prietor, unless he himself takes the command, is to 
the waggon-master (if present on the journey) in the posi- 
tion of a supercargo to the captain of a ship. This was 



Chap. III. ANGLO AMEBIC AN S AND MEXICANS. 229 

the case in our caravan ; and Mr. Mayer, although dissa- 
tisfied with his waggon-master, avoided any decided inter- 
ference with the command. The waggon-master, on the 
contrary, often tried to throw the responsibility of a 
decision on the proprietor. The former was an Anglo- 
American by birth ; I have never seen a more idle and 
effeminate man. Though he had made the journey several 
times, he would, towards the latter part, when we suffered 
much from the cold nights, creep forth in the morning 
from under his eight or ten blankets, whilst I had slept 
under a single pair : he had to be called at least three 
times ere he could be roused up to take the night-watch. 
There is, nevertheless, a common prejudice that only an 
Anglo-American is fitted for a waggon-master. The truth 
is, that if the crew consist of Anglo-Americans, scarcely a 
waggon-master of any other nation will know how to deal 
with them. If, on the contrary, they are Mexicans, a 
German who understands the language and his business as 
a driver will be able to take this office perfectly well. In 
a mixed body of Anglo-Americans and Mexicans discord 
will continually occur, and the latter seldom escape with- 
out maltreatment from the former, in whom the idea that 
a man of a darker complexion is thereby excluded from 
equal rights with them is with difficulty eradicated. 
" Shoot him ! " " Hang him ! " " Whip him ! " are excla- 
mations heard from the lips of his Anglo-American com- 
panions, when any small fault is committed by a Mexican ; 
and " I never killed a white man," is usually considered 
by the latter as completely clearing their character from 
any unfavourable suspicion. Amongst Anglo-Americans, 
however, who have lived in Mexico any length of time, 
this prejudice of race is often found effaced, and a more 
humane feeling has taken its place; to this the inter- 



230 ANGLO-AMERICANS AND MEXICANS. Book II. 

course with Mexican women is usually the first step. Thus 
the corrupt morals of the frontier towns of Mexico have 
their humanizing influence, and we observe how the civi- 
lization of the human race frequently follows strange 
channels. 

The Anglo-Americans have unquestionably the superi- 
ority in driving the waggons, whereas the Mexicans are 
the only useful muleteers — muleros. The business of 
the latter consists in bringing up the mules for the 
relay ; in catching the draught-cattle with the laso when 
required and handing them over to the driver, in keep- 
ing the herd together when unyoked, &c. Irish people, 
sometimes even Scotch and English, pass for Anglo- 
Americans ; and even the Germans, when with Mexicans, 
pass for Americanos, although they are generally on more 
intimate terms with the Mexicans. As drivers, the Ger- 
mans are not cool enough ; they become irritated and 
morose under fatigues and privations, and often vent 
this on the cattle. The Mexican exhibits in danger the 
mere passive courage of the fatalist, although examples 
of distinguished heroism are not wanting among them. 
Toils and privations they bear with an almost incredible 
equanimity and even cheerfulness. Often have I observed 
our Mexicans, stretched in the mud under the waggons, 
hungry and wet, passing the time in songs and joking. 
They are cruel to the draught and saddle animals, because 
they expect from them what is impossible ; but they 
understand their temper thoroughly, especially that of the 
mules, and know how to attain by cunning and coaxing 
what an Anglo-American fruitlessly attempts to effect by 
force. Whilst the latter vainly strives in every way to 
put the bit into the mouth of some obstinate mule, the 
Mexican looks on with compassion and contempt, " Estos 



Chap. III. MAN AND ANIMAL. 231 

hombres son barbaros, no saben nada ! " — these men are 
barbarians, they understand nothing ! — said one of these 
men to me on such an occasion. For instance, a little 
spirited mule, which afterwards became the favourite of 
the whole party and went by the pet name of " la 
Nina" resisted all the attempts of a big, stout Ken- 
tuekian to tame it; when Pedro, unable longer to bear 
it, exclaimed, " Let me try ! " and taking from his 
hand the end of the cord, which was tied in a noose 
round the animal's neck, he first let the mule, trembling 
with excitement, have a few minutes' rest ; then he 
approached it slowly and gently, patted its back, tickled 
its neck and behind its ears, and soothed it with words of 
endearment : " Nina I mulita I Mulita bonita ! " — 
O my child ! O my little mule ! My pretty little mule ! — ■ 
said he, in a soft tone. Meanwhile he drew the bridle 
over its head, and, unobserved, put the bit into its mouth, 
the creature offering no resistance. I remember another 
mule, to which his Mexican muleteer gave the classical 
name of Lais. Lais was in the same favour with Leandro 
as Nina was with friend Pedro. Once, however, I saw him 
in an indescribable rage with the animal. Trembling with 
fury, he raised the butt-end of his whip against it : " 0, 
si fueras Mejicana!" — Oh, were you but a Mexican ! — he 
muttered, letting his arm fall again. The Mexican did 
not dare to lay hands on the Anglo-Saxon beast. The 
Mexican drivers and muleteers are not only superior to the 
Anglo-American in patience, frugality, and good-humour 
under fatigue and privation, but also in manner. They 
do not swear ; for the occasional repetition of an improper 
word in the Spanish language cannot be compared to the 
innumerable curses of the Anglo-American driver. 

From drivers and muleteers we may pass to mules, 



232 CHARACTERISTIC OF THE MULE. Book II. 

which are in many respects far more interesting than the 
former, and whose natural disposition is an attractive 
subject to the observer of nature. One of the most 
striking characteristics of the mule is his aversion to the 
ass, and the pride he takes in his relationship to the 
horse ; which instincts are met, with obtrusiveness in the 
ass, and by indifference in the horse. If an ass at any 
time — urged by the vanity peculiar to its race as related to 
the mule — happens to fall in with a drove of mules, he 
will, in all probability, be kicked and lamed by his proud 
relatives. A horse, on the contrary, takes a distinguished 
position in a drove of mules. The latter crowd round 
him, and follow his movements, exhibiting a violent 
jealousy, each striving to stand nearest to their high-bred 
relative ; this instinct is employed to keep together the 
droves of mules, on a journey or at pasture, by putting a 
mare to the drove, with a bell round her neck, and called 
the " Bell-mare," — by the Mexicans, " la yegua madre " 
(Mother- mare). This animal is led day and night by a 
cord ; and the whole drove is thus kept under control, and 
will not leave their queen. It is therefore very difficult to 
separate the drove. The man who leads the mare is 
instructed, in case of an attack from the Indians, to leap 
instantly upon the back of this animal, and take refuge in 
the waggon-encampment, whither the drove is sure to 
follow him. Even if the Indians succeed in separating 
any from the drove, they find it difficult to carry them off. 
The animals incessantly attempt to turn back, and the tra- 
vellers are thus enabled to overtake the robbers and recover 
the stolen animals. The Indians, in consequence, use 
every means to get possession of the mare ; and, if they 
succeed in this, the whole drove is lost to their owners. 
If several horses are in a drove of mules, the danger is 



Chap. III. A WHITE MULE. 233 

that the latter becomes dispersed ; and this is the reason 
that, in these journeys, saddle-horses are not allowed to go 
loose, but are led by a cord. 

A large drove of mules, however, generally contains one 
or another democratic individual, which has attained to 
the consciousness of its natural animal dignity and native 
rights, and therefore asserts a kind of independence. We 
had, for instance, in our drove, a white mule which regu- 
larly separated from the others at the time of harnessing. 
When the mules were driven from the pasture into the 
waggon-encampment, where they are caught by the laso, 
the white mule accompanied the rest up to the entrance ; 
but here it made a sudden leap aside, ran off to the dis- 
tance of half-a-mile, and from this point watched the camp 
with fixed attention, until the caravan was in motion. It 
then returned quietly, and joined the relay. Sometimes, 
to show who was master, two Mexicans were sent out to 
catch the fugitive ; and the animal was then, of course, 
harnessed for the day. The loss of time, however, and 
the fatigue of the saddle-horses, prevented a repetition of 
these measures. The animal had its own way, and, whilst 
its brethren were hard worked, it made simply a journey 
of pleasure from the Missouri to Chihuahua. 

An educated Mexican told me a counterpart to this. 
In a certain convent, six mules were kept, each of which 
was employed daily by turns : one of these animals knew 
its own day in the week so well that, on that morning, it 
regularly endeavoured to keep the yard-door closed, by 
planting itself against it, and thus preventing the servant's 
coming to fetch it to work. 

It is impossible to describe the scene of the first harness- 
ing of some hundred mules, until then quite wild, and 
which have never had a bit in their mouths, nor a saddle 



234 FIKST BKEAKIMMN Book II. 

on their backs. The waggons are drawn up, so as to 
form three-fourths of a circle, whilst the space left open 
is the entrance to the court-yard of this encampment. In 
the intervals between them the waggons are connected by 
a cord tied from wheel to wheel. The mules are driven 
into the court, when the entrance is also closed by a cord 
drawn across it. Two men, armed with whips, are placed 
at this entrance, in order to drive back any of the mules 
which may attempt to leap over the cord or creep under it. 
The Mexicans call this waggon-encampment, which serves 
both for catching the animals and as a place of protection 
against the Indians, a "corral" — a word which signifies 
any yard or enclosed place where cattle are kept. The 
Anglo-Americans have changed the word into " carrel." 

The reader may picture to himself two to three hundred 
wild mules crowded together in this space, with ten to 
fifteen men among them, each endeavouring to fling the 
laso over the heads of the animals, one after another, to 
force the bit into their mouths, and to lead each to its 
place before the waggon to which it has to be harnessed. 
In a caravan of twenty to thirty waggons, this first attempt 
occupies the greater part of a day, leaving no time to get 
the waggons in motion. The mules well know the laso, 
and strive to escape it in every way possible : they crowd 
closely together, first on one side then on another of the 
corral, their heads turned to the centre, and hidden as 
much as possible ; others thrust their heads under the 
waggons or between the wheels, to prevent the laso 
reaching their necks ; while, again, others are even more 
cunning: they stand stock-still, as if they were actually 
holding their necks patiently for the noose ; but the expres- 
sion of their eye, fixedly watching at the same time the 
man with the laso, betrays their cunning. The man now 



Chap. III. AND HARNESSING WILD MULES. 235 

whirls the cord, in serpentine coils, round and round over 
his head ; the noose flies hissing, with the precision of an 
arrow, to its object ; whilst the animal stands as if rooted 
to the spot, but making a small side-motion of its head, 
and the laso misses. 

All these stratagems, however, are useless. Whilst the 
drove rush from side to side of the corral, one mule 
after another feels the laso twisted round its neck. Then 
it tears away madly into the midst of its companions, 
dragging the man who holds the cord from one side of 
the corral to the other. A second and a third now come 
to his aid. The hard breathing of the half-strangled animal 
is heard amidst all the uproar and confusion of the scene. 
At length the men succeed in drawing the end of the 
cord between the spokes of a wheel, and the animal is 
gradually brought nearer and nearer to this point. As 
soon as it is close to the wheel, the cord is drawn round its 
body, and again pulled through the spokes, so that the 
whole body is now brought into a noose. Thereupon the 
men endeavour to force the bit between its teeth, and, just as 
they seem to have accomplished this, the animal in despair 
makes a last effort ; it throws itself on the ground, frees 
its legs from the cord by rolling over, jumps up, and, with 
the noose still tightly drawn round its neck, disappears in 
the thickest of the drove. The chase now begins anew, 
until the animal has a second noose around its neck : half- 
strangled, it is now flung on the ground and mastered by 
forcible means, until the bit is in its mouth, and the cord, 
with a second noose, fixed round its nostril. Upon this, it 
is let out of the corral ; and now begins the attempt to put 
it to, and harness it to the waggon. The creature again 
makes the most violent struggles ; and, considering that 
in this manner ten animals are put to every carriage, and 



236 ORDER OF JOURNEY, Book II. 

that this operation goes on at the same time in different 
points in the corral, and before twenty or thirty waggons, 
the reader may form an idea of the confusion of the whole 
scene. When trying to put them to, the animals entangle 
themselves in the harness, fling themselves on the ground, 
trample upon and kick one another, sometimes break 
loose, and run off with part of the harness, the Mexicans 
in pursuit, mounted on the swiftest horses in the caravan. 
The mule, with the draught-chains clattering at its heels, 
gallops madly on, until the noose is again round its neck, 
when it is brought in and harnessed anew. 

When at length all the waggons are in readiness, the 
corral is opened ; the supernumerary animals are let out, 
with the bell-mare, and the caravan is now ready to start. 
The mules are now, for the first time, put to draught; 
for the first time they feel the bridle and the lash of the 
driver, who takes his place on the saddled mule. 

Fresh confusion ! Here, it is impossible to get the team 
to move, — there, another team tries to run away with 
its waggon. Here, one pair of mules make a desperate 
effort to advance, whilst a second pair holds back, — there, 
the leaders turn sharp round, drag the next pair after it, 
and threaten to snap the axle-tree. Here, an animal 
falls, — there, a chain breaks. Amidst the cracking of whips, 
and shouting and swearing of the drivers, at last one team 
gets into a regular pace, when suddenly they strike off 
from the beaten road, dragging the waggon into a morass, 
or wedging it fast between trees. The broken harness has 
to be mended, the waggon has to be dragged out of the 
morass, and the tree standing in the way has to be felled ; 
before all this is accomplished another waggon is in a 
similar plight! Thus the day passes, in the utmost excite- 
ment and fatigue both to man and beast, until in the even- 



Chap. III. AND PRAIRIE ROADS. 237 

ing a new corral is formed, with great trouble, perhaps 
scarcely a thousand yards distant from the former. The 
animals are unyoked, and driven to grass and water ; and 
the men, after lighting their fires, set about satisfying their 
hunger and thirst. 

The next morning matters are somewhat improved ; in 
many the obstinate nature of the animals is subdued, and 
the men have begun to learn their disposition. The yoking 
and harnessing is accomplished in three to four hours, and 
the caravan succeeds in proceeding a few miles. Under 
the most favourable circumstances, however, the yoking a 
caravan of twenty to thirty waggons takes at least an hour 
and a half. 

The waggons have their fixed order in the camp as well 
as on the road. No one is allowed to pass another, and 
those in advance are ordered to wait for those behind. The 
danger of an attack from the Indians obliges the caravan 
to keep together as much as possible, and for this reason, 
it sometimes travels in double column ; a great part of the 
Santa Fe road has, in consequence, double tracks. I must 
here observe that the roads over the prairies are for the 
most part well marked out, and it would be quite erroneous 
to imagine these journeys made over trackless wilds. Now 
and then, it is true, a daring caravan-conductor attempts a 
new route, with a view to cut off an angle to reach some 
watering-place, or to avoid a hill, and in these cases he has 
of course to make his own path. The wheel-tracks of a 
waggon-caravan are distinguishable for several years in the 
prairie : a different vegetation springs up on them — herba- 
ceous plants, for instance, supersede the grasses, and not 
unfrequently the course which waggons have many years 
ago followed may be traced by a line of tall sunflowers, 
extending for miles over the grassy plain. 



238 THE CAMP AND ITS COMFORTS. Book II. 

The caravan usually travels from early in the morning 
until eleven o'clock ; it then stops to rest, to cook, to eat, 
to water the mules, and let them graze. In the afternoon 
a second journey is performed : the night encampment is 
formed if possible before dark, and the drove is taken to 
water and turned out to grass for the night. In selecting 
a place for encampment, attention must be paid to the 
different kinds of grass, which are of very unequal value as 
fodder for the cattle ; likewise to the vicinity, abundance, 
quality, and accessibility of the water; to the facility of 
arrival and departure, and security against the Indians. 
The waggon-master rides on before, to reconnoitre the 
country for this purpose — a task often accompanied with 
danger. The order of inarch is, however, frequently re- 
versed, the journey being made by night and the party 
resting by day. 

As soon as the teams are unharnessed, the first watch 
has to mount guard, whilst the others light their camp- 
fires, prepare their meal, eat, smoke, chat, and repose, until 
their turn comes to relieve guard. For this purpose the 
men are divided into corps, each with its leader, and they 
relieve one another every two hours. Under the protec- 
tion of this well-armed guard, the animals are kept out at 
grass during the night. Shortly before daybreak, however, 
the herd is driven into the corral, as pillaging bands of 
Indians prefer this time for their attacks : the camp is then 
aroused, and harnessing begins. 

It need hardly be mentioned that the only couch for 
sleeping is the ground, upon which is spread a blanket or 
the skin of some animal: the saddle serves for a pillow, 
and a few blankets give the necessary warmth to the body. 
The traveller lays his gun — his faithful bed-fellow — under 
his blanket. When the ground is dry and not too uneven, 



Qhap. III. NIGHT-WATCHES. 239 

and there is neither rain nor snow, the traveller soon finds 
such a bed comfortable enough : when it rains, shelter may 
be found under the waggons, unless you chance to drop 
into a puddle or a brook. The waggons are provided with 
a double covering of sailcloth, drawn over wooden hoops, 
and long enough to be pulled down to the point of the 
axletree : this forms a roof, under which, placed upon the 
axletree, the leathern harness can be kept dry ; and this 
is the place where the driver usually sleeps. 

I must observe that, as far as I was personally concerned, 
we were provided with a tent, which, together with a com- 
panion, I used during the first nights ; but as the trouble of 
putting it up and taking it down usually fell to my lot, and 
the tent mostly afforded shelter when it was least wanted, 
whereas in bad weather it was generally blown down by the 
wind, I gave up the use of this very questionable comfort. 
Our caravan had also two travelling-carriages in its train, 
which could be closed up and the seats converted into a 
couch. Half of one of these carriages was at my disposal. 
Thus I had the comfort of being able to drive and ride 
alternately ; but for my night-couch I generally preferred 
to lie on the ground in the open air, as it was disagreeable 
to be unable to see at any time what was passing around. 
I slept on a buffalo-skin, covered with a few blankets ; but 
I never took off my clothes at night during the whole 
journey, and my shoes only three or four times in the one 
hundred and five nights we spent on the road to Chihuahua. 

The night-watches are the severest part of these journeys, 
especially after forced marches, which a want of water 
sometimes compelled us to make. Even the constant fear 
of being surprised and scalped by an Indian has at times 
not prevented my falling asleep whilst standing at my post. 
During the whole journey, however, I only two or three 



i 



240 MUSICAL AMUSEMENT. Book II. 

times neglected my duty on guard. On the high plateaus 
of New Mexico, five to seven thousand feet above the level 
of the sea, the intense cold in October and November also 
greatly increased the discomforts of these nocturnal mili- 
tary herdsman's duties, from which no one who travels in 
these caravans is exempt, unless, like Mr. Mayer, he is ac- 
companied by his wife. But as in the United States apart 
of the privileges which ladies enjoy extend to their husbands 
or cavaliers, the courtesy of the drivers has introduced the 
considerate practice, on the prairie-roads, of exempting a 
husband travelling with his wife from sharing these night- 
watches. Mr. Mayer was, in consequence, in a most 
enviable position ; and as often as a comparison of his lot 
with mine forced itself upon me when on guard, Leporello's 
" Kerne Ruh' bei Tag und Nacht " (no rest day or night), 
resounded in my ear, and I involuntarily fell to humming 
the air. Moreover the snail's pace of Time daring these 
night-watches called up all kinds of musical recollections, 
from my early childhood till the time of my departure from 
Europe. My voice soon awakened the echo of the prairie- 
wolves, and their howling and whining lasted till morning. 

My musical amusements were properly against rule, and 
in the most dangerous parts I was obliged to forego them : 
instead, therefore, I chose astronomy as a pastime, and was 
soon enabled, by the help of the stars, to calculate the expi- 
ration of my time on guard within ten minutes, and to 
succeed in retracing my road in the dark to the camp, 
across the prairie or through a Mexican chaparral, from 
the herd grazing at a mile distant. 

On the whole, the rude and hard life on such a journey 
through the wilderness has great charms, which may gain a 
fascinating power over the mind ; and at the moment I am 
writing this I indeed scarcely know whether they do not 



Chap. III. DANGEROUS CHARMS OF THE WILDERNESS. 241 

surpass those of civilized life. At all events I have spent, 
during these travels, some of the most cheerful hours of my 
life in a state of mind free from all weight. The expe- 
rienced traveller, however, should warn his civilized fellow- 
man against these charms of life in the wilderness. He to 
whom fate has shown the questionable favour of having 
enjoyed both will maintain a divided interest as long as he 
lives. 



R 



242 OUTSKIRTS OF THE PRAIRIE. Book II. 

Jflalflhd 
aW 

CHAPTEE IV. 

Departure from Independence — Outskirts of the Prairie — Commencement of 
the Caravan Journey — Indian Signal Station — Wolves and Indians — 
Uncomfortable Night-Quarters — Journey by Moonlight — Solitude of the 
Prairie — Breeds of Dogs, and Races of Men — Geological Remarks — The 
Prairie — Council Grove — Yerba-loco — Small Prairie Rivers — Land- 
scape Scenery — Buffalo-Herds, and Hunting — Marmots and their Vil- 
lages — Their Companionship with Owls and Rattlesnakes — Californian 
Ground-Squirrel — Meteorological Observations. 

I have already said that I left Independence on the 
17th of August, in company with Mr. and Mrs. M., in 
order to follow the caravan. In a few hours we had left 
behind woods and cultivated lands, with the last traces of 
human habitation, and found ourselves on the edge of 
the wide steppes which stretch hence westwards over the 
greater part of the North American continent, reaching 
even in some places, with a few interruptions, the shore of 
the Pacific. 

To give a correct idea of this border-country it must be 
observed, that from the valley of the Missouri upwards 
the prairie lies on an elevation, whilst the woods which 
clothe the slopes of the valley break off where the eleva- 
tion begins to form an undivided plain, and, following some 
small precipitous valleys and ravines, extend here and 
there into the steppes. From the margin of the prairie 
there is a view on all sides down into the lower woodlands. 

The farms of this border-land produce an agreeable 
impression. Fields covered with heavy sheaves of wheat 
and maize showed the fertility of the soil. The meadows, 
watered by brooks, were covered with rich grass, and the 
scarlet blossoms of the Asklepias, the white (Enothera, and 



Chap. IV. INDIAN SIGNAL STATION. 243 

golden sunflowers invested the foreground with the most 
brilliant colours. 

We encamped for the night, and reached the caravan 
early the next morning, continuing our journey with it. 
A brilliant sky rested over the wide-spreading plain 
before us, which was still broken here and there, park-like, 
by groups of trees and strips of wood. Upon an elevation 
near the road stood three pyramids of stones, roughly piled 
one upon another, the highest twelve or fifteen feet high. I 
could learn nothing of their origin. Later on I saw, in 
various places in the prairie, similar but rougher heaps of 
stones. Sometimes green boughs stuck between the stones, 
which led me to infer that these were signals of communi- 
tion agreed upon by the Indians. For the greater part of 
the day I rode in advance of the caravan. The first 
prairie-fowls showed themselves, and the pursuit of these, 
with the examination of some plants quite new to me, 
filled all the time until we reached our night-quarters. 
This point went by the name of the " Lone Elm Tree." 
An elm had stood here ; but some travellers, to whom 
a cup of warm coffee gave greater pleasure than the sight 
of a tree in the steppes, had cut it down not long before we 
passed : the barbarous act was already perpetrated, and we 
might, therefore, use the pieces of wood lying about for our 
camp-fire. 

Our way led us through the strip of land between the 
Kansas and Osage rivers, rising gradually, with beautiful 
views, on to the neighbouring country. Towards the 
I south the ground sloped gradually down into valleys, and 
iwas, on the whole, more flat ; but towards the north, the 
descents into the valleys were steep and precipitous. Far 
away in both directions were to be seen rivulets, bordered 
|with trees, winding along through the meadows. 

R 2 






244 JOUENEY BY MOONLIGHT. Book II. 

At the Rock Creek we met a party of Indians, armed 
with lance and tomahawk ; and the next morning we found 
them seated on one side of our camp, and a troop of wolves 
on the other, awaiting our departure to seize any food or 
other articles we might leave behind. 

One night a terrible storm burst over our heads. I was 
lying with two companions under the tent, when the wind 
blew it down upon us. We immediately raised it again ; 
but in a few minutes it was once more overthrown. The 
rain poured in torrents, and we had no shelter, no resource 
but to remain lying quietly. The wet canvas lay cold on 
my face, and soon a stream of water was running down my 
neck. I crept under the counterpane, and at last fell 
asleep. 

A few days afterwards we encamped on the ^Fish 
Creek — an appropriate name. Here we caught with 
our rods a number of small perch, and as these fish 
sparkled on my line brilliant humming-birds chirped 
around me. 

We continued our journey by moonlight. The long 
row of waggons, with their white tilts, and shadows all 
of the same shape and size, moving along the road at 
equal distances, offered a curious sight. No sound was 
heard but the tinkling of the bell borne by a horse in the 
rear of the caravan, which was now and then drowned in 
the song of lament from one of our Mexicans. Later on I 
often heard this same song in night journeys in Mexico. 
It must be of Indian origin. Perhaps the Aztec prisoners 
of war, before being sacrificed to the great Huitzilopochtli, 
may have sung such a funeral song ; an opera-composer 
might very well adopt the motive : it begins with a loud 
continued scream of anguish, modulating into a few minor 
intervals, expressive rather of physical than mental pain. 



Chap. IV. BKEEDS OF DOGS. 245 

On first hearing it I fancied it, at a distance, the howling 
of wolves. 

In our day's journey to Council Grove I missed the 
keys of my luggage, and rode back twelve or fifteen miles 
to our encampment, where the first object I saw was my 
bunch of keys lying on the grass. I rejoined our caravan 
before it encamped for the night. During this ride I was 
reminded, by the stillness and solitude of the prairie, of 
similar impressions of loneliness made on me by the high 
places of the Alps. Whilst riding along the plain I observed 
some Indians riding towards me. On a sudden they vanished 
as if they had sunk into the earth. Being, however, well 
armed I continued my ride, only taking the precaution to 
turn a little out of the road at the spot where these figures 
had disappeared. Whilst doing so, the men, with their 
horses, re-appeared near to me. There was probably some 
dip in the ground, concealed by the grass, the even growth 
of which renders it difficult to perceive any inequality in 
the plain. I observed there were two men and one woman, 
accompanied by a dog, which flew at me fiercely, and was 
not called off till I levelled my gun at it. 

The Indian's dog has, like his master, natural hostility 
to the white man, — an instinctive enmity which is fully 
returned by the dog of the latter. A large dog belonging 
to our caravan could not be held back whenever he saw an 
Indian, but instantly flew at his throat. He had the same 
hostility towards dark-coloured Mexicans of the lower 
class, whilst toward the whites he was perfectly tame. 
Horses and mules take fright, and shy at the sight of 
Indians, until they become quite used to them ; and even 
a friendly visit from the Indians occasions an uproar and 
alarm throughout the caravan. 

As far as the vicinity of Pleasant Valley our road had 



246 GEOLOGICAL EEMAEKS. Book II. 

lain over a tract of carboniferous limestone : but, on an 
elevation in this part, a limestone stratum appears of quite 
a different geological character. The chief colour is white, 
softly shaded like marble, or marked with black dendritic 
lines. It is dense, hard, and impregnated with silica, 
which is often secreted in masses of flint. This limestone 
forms at Council Grove a terrace, ascending which the 
road runs, still rising, in a westerly direction. On the 
other side of Diamond Spring, near Lost Spring, com- 
mence the marl and conglomerate strata of the new red 
sandstone. 

I observed no organic remains in the limestone of 
Pleasant Valley and Council Grove ; but, in journeying 
across it, I came to the opinion that one step had brought 
me from the carboniferous limestone to the cretaceous forma- 
tion. At the foot of the terrace formed by these strata, 
just as at the lower edge of the cretaceous strata in Texas, 
clear springs gush forth, the excellent water of which is very 
distinguishable from the peaty water of the strata of coal- 
limestone and the saline or alkaline water of the new red 
sandstone. Marcou, in his geological map of the United 
States, lays down the new red sandstone as commencing 
near Pleasant Valley, with insulated masses of the cre- 
taceous formation lying about on the former. If this is 
the leading feature of this part of the country, the Santa- 
Fe road appears to pass over such a chalk island, which 
exactly covers the limit between the new red sandstone 
and the carboniferous limestone. We travelled through 
part of this country by night, and I could not, therefore, 
follow an uninterrupted line of observation. 

On the Little Arkansas rises an elevation in the prairie, 
the sharp edge of which is formed of layers of light-grey 
sandstone. This termination of a plateau to the north- 



Chap. IY. GEOLOGICAL REMARKS. 247 

west extends along the Arkansas river as the northern 
boundary of its valley, and the road runs along at the foot 
of this plateau until it crosses the river above Fort Atkin- 
son. The characteristic features of this plateau are the 
small rocks on Walnut Creek, at Pawnee Rock and 
Pawnee Fork, and on the so-called Caches ; and the 
geological phenomena of these are repeated on the north 
side of the Cimarron, on the so-called Lower and Middle 
Springs. The conglomerate which appears here (clearly 
a higher stratum of the new red sandstone than that which 
furnishes the masses of quicksand on the Arkansas and 
Cimarron) is loosely held together by a white, powdery, or 
rather flour-like cement, and contains boulders of quartz, 
jasper, cornelian, flint, granite, syenite, trap, red, brown, 
black and green lava, scoriae, and brown pitchstone. 
Wherever the cement occurs in layers without boulders, 
a number of indistinct formations of organic origin are 
visible in the wbite mealy mass, which deserve to be 
examined under the microscope. The more distinct forms 
have the appearance of delicate roots and twigs, and in the 
fractures numerous small holes, like little tubes, are seen in 
many places. Here and there this net-work of organic 
remains is very hard, being penetrated by hydrated oxide 
of iron. A harder stratum forms the surface of these rocks, 
protects them against decomposition, and is the cause of the 
formation of this plateau. At Walnut Creek, Pawnee 
Rock and Pawnee Fork, this roof presents peculiar dark- 
brown masses, looking like half-fused sandstone, and as if 
they had formerly composed the surface of contact between 
the sandstone and a layer of lava which had flowed over it. 
Wislicenus asserts that these formations are of volcanic 
origin ; and on the Rabbit's Ears and the Round Mound, 
volcanic mountains on the sources of the Nutria or 



248 Geological remarks. " book n. 

northern branch of the Canadian river, are found ejected 
masses of half-fused sandstone, just similar to those above- 
mentioned. In other places, on the contrary, the harder 
layers that cover the sandstone and conglomerate appeared 
to be merely sandy and ferruginous incrustations of lime- 
stone, with a cellular appearance. On the Pawnee Fork 
a dense limestone has provided, and probably still provides, 
the materials for such incrustations by solution and filtra- 
tion. Upon the surface of contact are found brown sandy 
stalactites and sandy limestone crystals, similar to the 
so-called crystallized sandstone of Fontainebleau. 

A rough, sandy, dolomitic limestone, which overlies the 
softer sandstone and conglomerate on the Cimarron, sepa- 
rates these layers of the new red sandstone formation from 
the upper and more recent masses of sandstone, which at 
first appear in piled-up blocks. Their substance is remark- 
able for the quantity of quartz and mica it includes ; for 
the occasional entire absence of any perceptible cement ; 
for the complete amalgamation of its grains of quartz into 
a solid quartz rock ; for its great hardness and bright 
colours of all shades, from the purest white to a brilliant 
brick or brown red, or from light yellow to brown. Nume- 
rous knots of brown ironstone, partially detached by the 
wearing effects of the weather, stand out on the surface in 
concentric films, and form one of the characteristic features 
of the formation. The stratification of this higher and 
more recent sandstone is distinctly visible on the so-called 
Upper Springs, upon the south side of the Cimarron, and 
on the Cold Spring and Cedar Spring. Undermost are 
seen the layers of conglomerate and sandstone which form 
the quicksands of the Arkansas and the Cimarron ; over 
them the rough limestone, as a roof, and above this the 
more recent and hard sandstone which I have just described. 



Chap. IV. 



GEOLOGICAL REMARKS. 



249 



The strata of the latter, if I am not mistaken, are not 
parallel with those underlying it. 

I have no doubt that this upper sandstone belongs to 
the Jura formation pointed out by Marcou as occurring 
here. On the Ocate, a cleft running out into the valley 
of the Upper Canadian, this sandstone contains vegetable 
remains, consisting of indistinct twigs and dicotyledonous 
leaves. At the same time numerous little round eleva- 
tions of a white colour are seen upon the planes of separa- 
tion in the red or yellowish chief mass, which give the 
rock a spotted appearance and an oolithic character. 

Upon these strata of sandstone, which contain the beds 
of Rabbit's Ears Creek, Rock Creek, Whetstone Creek, 
and other creeks, and over which the trap-lavas of the 
Kabbit's Ears and the Round Mound have poured, there lie 
in the vicinity of Waggon Mound, on the plateau across 
which the road leads to Las Vegas, still higher strata of 
a limestone, now lighter, now darker, and of a very hard 
dark grey sandy marl-slate containing innumerable and 
here and there separate masses of calcareous spar. The 
trap-lavas of Waggon Mound have broken through and 
spread over these upper layers. 

At Las Vegas, on the north-east side of the valley, the 
limestone of the Jura formation terminates in nearly hori- 
zontal stratification, and on the opposite side of the valley a 
steep ridge of sandstone runs from N.N.W. to S.S.E. ; 
its strata, inclined E.N.E., passing under that limestone. 
Probably it is the new red sandstone uplifted from the 
west which reappears here. Through a narrow cleft which 
intersects this ridge to its base — so narrow that a loaded 
waggon can hardly pass between the rocks — the road to 
Santa-Fe leads on level ground into a labyrinth of irregular 



250 GEOLOGICAL EEMAEKS. Book II. 

valleys and ravines, without water, where horizontal strata 
of sandstone with superincumbent limestone reappear. 
The Canon Blanco and Canon del Toro are defiles in this 
sandstone which Marcou assigns to the Jura formation. 
Upon a table-shaped mountain of sandstone, near Anton 
Chico, a small place on the Upper Pecos, are again found 
the vegetable remains of the Ocate, with other parts of plants 
appearing like reeds. South of Canon Blanco the country 
again forms an undivided and horizontal plateau, which to 
the west, on the Rio Grande, is bordered by a succession 
of plutonic-metamorphysic, perhaps also volcanic and partly 
sedimentary groups of mountains of steep alpine forms, 
between which defiles descend to the Rio Grande Valley. 
Upon this plateau, at the Ojo de Berendo or Antilope 
Spring, occurs white limestone resting upon sandstone. 
This plateau clearly bears a detached portion of the Jura 
formation of the Llano Estacado. But this formation 
appears in a great measure to have been washed away, and 
the new red sandstone laid bare. The same thing occurs 
near the little Salt Lake, towards which the streams of 
Manzanas, Cuarra, &c, flow from the above-mentioned 
groups of mountains. Over this sandstone the road runs 
through the pass of Cuarra and Avd into the valley of the 
Salado, a salt brook which flows through the new red 
sandstone, and then cuts its way through a ravine of a 
deeper-lying limestone, and through this arrives at the 
valley of the Rio Grande. Our way did not lead us 
through this ravine, but over a steep mountain of lime- 
stone overlying the sandstone, and in this way reached the 
valley of the river above La Joyita. Thus there appear 
here upon the east side of the Rio Grande, in a narrow 
space, three or four different formations which, according 



Chap. IV. COUNCIL GHOVE. 251 

to Marcou, fill up the whole period from the carboniferous 
limestone to the chalk, with plutonic, metamorphic, and 
volcanic masses interposed. 

I have made this digression from the thread of my 
narrative in order to give briefly such superficial geological 
remarks as our mode of travelling from Missouri to the 
Rio Grande permitted. Our frequent night journeys pre- 
vented a more complete and connected series of observa- 
tions. I must now recall my reader's attention to the 
eastern portion of the prairie, where I have other phe- 
nomena and travelling incidents to relate. 

Irrespective of any geological consideration in reference 
to the appearance of the cretaceous formation in Pleasant 
Valley, it is certain that this, together with the greater 
elevation of the ground, is accompanied by a remarkable 
change in the whole natural features of the prairie. Both 
air and soil are more dry upon the higher ground and new 
character of the strata. The dew, which had fallen plenti- 
fully on the lower step of the plateau, is seen here sparingly. 
The traveller is sensible of the change of climate, in his 
improved healthy feeling and increased activity. The 
vegetation is in general shorter and not so rank. 

Council Grove, where we arrived August 27th, will 
unquestionably become one day an important place. The 
situation is beautiful, and possesses many advantages. At 
the time we visited it, this place consisted of about ten 
houses, inhabited by white men and Indian women. A 
little higher up the brook stood, detached, the Mission- 
house, a somewhat large stone building, surrounded by 
hedged-in fields. This Mission, which was established by 
the Methodists among the Caw-Indians, has been, I be- 
lieve, disturbed by the newer lawless state of the terri- 
tory of late years. About a mile distant down the stream 



252 YEKBA-LOCO. Book TI. 

was a camp, composed of twelve to fifteen leather tents, 
belonging to the Caws. The country around is rich in 
natural beauty on a small scale. The rivulets, bordered 
by trees and bushes, wind along through beautiful flowery 
valleys, between hills covered with grass. These form the 
sources of the Neosho, which flows into the Arkansas. 

Near Diamond Spring, where on one of the heights was 
an Indian burial-place, an ox was caught by one of our 
people and slaughtered in the evening. It had evidently 
strayed from some caravan that had preceded us. We 
tried to shorten our stay at Lost Spring, where we watered 
our animals. A certain poisonous plant growing here, 
called by the Mexicans Yerba-loco (mad-herb), is much 
feared: the specimen shown to me appeared to be an 
Astragalus. Here, again, as I have already mentioned, 
a different kind of rock begins, and with the increasing 
loose sand on Cotton Wood Creek the poplars commence. 
Hitherto the creeks had been bordered by a variety of 
bushes and trees, of which oaks had formed a predominant 
feature. The ground here is one vast level plain, and the 
deep bed of the river just mentioned looks like a straight 
line of tree-tops rising a little above its edge. The grass 
here was short, and even at this season already withered. 
Myriads of locusts were hopping around, w r hilst mosquitos 
of an unusual size plagued both man and beast. 

At noon, on September 1st, we stopped on the Little 
Arkansas to rest. The bed of this river is, like all others 
hereabouts, deeply hollowed in the prairie, — not in rock, 
but in alluvial clay. 

I have remarked how easily hollows in the ground may 
escape observation. The grassy plain nowhere presents 
any determined lines, no geometric perspective ; and, as 
the nature of the atmosphere either excludes the per- 



Chap. IV. LANDSCAPE SCENERY. 253 

ception of distances by different degrees of distinctness in 
which objects may be seen, or confuses it by the unequal 
temperature of the strata of air, it is impossible to avoid 
optical delusions. I mistook a rabbit near me for a stag 
in the distance, and some ravens walking along the road 
for men ; one of the foremost waggons passing through the 
bed of a river seemed to sink into the earth. Along the 
valley of the Little Arkansas grow elms and poplars ; 
which, seen from the plain, look as if their tops grew out 
of the ground. 

As soon as you descend to the bed of a river, a peculiar 
little world opens to your view in the barren prairie : the 
trees grow up from out of the depth, on the sides of which 
are sunflowers the height of two to three men, and vines 
entwine luxuriantly amidst the underwood. 

Whilst ascending the elevation on the west, commencing 
here with sandstone layers, I had an interesting view of 
the sandhills on the Arkansas river, to which we were 
very near. The range of these hills appears like strips of 
land variegated white and green — an effect produced by 
single bushes scattered upon the white sand. Close to 
these hills an interesting formation of the ground was seen 
under a remarkable evening light. Small conical hills, 
overgrown, like the surrounding country, with grass, rose 
like gigantic mole -hills from the gently undulating plain, 
casting dark shadows, with the appearance of black spots 
and stripes. The grass around was of a brilliant green for 
the time of year — a sign that the neighbourhood of these 
peculiar elevations, which were perhaps originally merely 
drift sandhills, must be rich in moisture : the capillary 
attraction, as I repeatedly observed afterwards, often draws 
a great quantity of moisture to the surface of the loose 
sand, especially in hollows amongst sandhills. 



454 BUFFALO HERDS. Book II. 

In this neighbourhood we first saw some single buffaloes, 
their numbers increasing as we proceeded. Two days 
before, I had seen at sunrise, standing out against the rosy- 
hue of the eastern horizon, a large black figure, which 
fixed my attention until I discovered it to be a stray 
buffalo, which, for some cause or other, had separated 
from the herds grazing farther west. We, however, saw 
no more of these animals until we reached these herds. 
One evening, as our waggons were driving along in a 
golden glow, we were suddenly surrounded by small bands 
of buffaloes, which formed the commencement of a large 
herd. One of the animals was immediately pursued, and 
the hunter soon returned to the camp, announcing it to 
be killed, and asking some of our people to ride back 
with him and fetch the carcass. Night, however, had 
meanwhile come on, and the animal could not be found; 
nevertheless, our desire for buffalo tongue and marrow- 
bones did not go long unsatisfied, and a few days later 
several of our people even fell sick from feasting immode- 
rately on the flesh. In the morning, on looking around, 
the plain was covered with innumerable buffaloes. The 
herd was immense, but divided into separate bodies. 
From September 1st to the 8th we journeyed through 
them incessantly. They spread chiefly along the north 
bank of the Arkansas, but in some places we saw them 
also covering the opposite shore. Occasionally crowds of 
them approached so close to our caravan as to threaten to 
occasion a disorder, and while the oxen of a train of waggons 
following our caravan were led to drink, it was difficult to 
prevent their mixing with the buffaloes. During the night 
the bellowing of these animals was heard all around our 
camp, accompanied by the howling of innumerable wolves 
which always follow buffalo herds, killing the calves, the 



Chap. IV. BUFFALO HERDS. 255 

sick, and old. I do not know whether the buffalo- wolf is a 
distinct species ; those we saw were white and very large. 
On the 6th, whilst moving along between Pawnee Fork 
and Coon Creek, the buffalo herds formed a close line at 
least eight miles long upon the northern heights. Doubt- 
less this herd, w r hich surrounded us for a week whilst 
travelling, consisted of millions of animals, and formed one 
body, journeying along in company. I must, with my 
own eyes, have seen hundreds of thousands. Further on, 
after passing through this herd, we found the grass of the 
prairie cropped closely off, to the great inconvenience of 
our draught animals. The buffaloes had journeyed along, 
grazing as they went, and for hundreds of miles farther 
south the carcases of these beasts lay scattered about on 
the plain in such abundance that not a spot was free from 
the traces of their bones. 

During our journey through this buffalo-herd we were 
of course never in want of fresh meat. In half an hour, or 
less, an animal could always be procured ; and even after 
having left that part of the prairie where the buffaloes 
were grazing, our store of fresh meat held out for another 
week, as in these high and dry regions, especially at that 
season, fresh meat keeps good for a long time and is at 
last dried up by the air without being corrupted. Before 
our buffalo-meat was exhausted we fell in with herds of 
antelopes. Further west, immense flocks of ducks covered 
every pool in the prairie ; and on the Rio Grande we 
found, in addition, geese, cranes, hares, quails, and other 
small game, so that our table was always well supplied. 
During the greatest abundance the flesh of calves and 
young cows was alone deemed good enough, and of many 
slain animals we ate only the tongues and marrowbones. 
The liver also of young animals is delicious, and the 



256 BUFFALO-HUNTING. Book II. 

marrow from the leg-bones is one of the greatest delica- 
cies. If the reader desires a characteristic picture of good 
living in the prairie, let him imagine a troop of travellers 
seated round a fire of buffalo-dung, upon which a buffalo 
marrowbone is being roasted. When it is believed to be 
sufficiently done, the bone is split open with a hatchet and 
the marrow taken out in a solid lump. In contrast to 
these delicacies of the wilderness must be placed the flesh 
of an old bull, which is almost uneatable, and obstinately 
resists all attempts of cookery to convert it into anything 
more digestible than a hank of cord. The scene of a tribe 
of Indians hunting a herd of buffaloes is exciting and wild 
enough ; many travellers have described this, but I had 
never an opportunity of witnessing one. Buffalo-hunting 
was pursued on a small scale by our party — I might say, 
" en detail''' If meat was wanted, a man rode forth into 
the midst of the herd, with a six-barrelled revolver. The 
great mass of buffaloes is divided into herds, and these 
again into bands, each under the guidance of a single bull. 
The connection of this immense mass is never quite broken 
up, though the single bands rove about always following 
their leader independently in a straight line. The hunter 
selects one of the animals from a troop, and pursues it. 
Now this part of the herd is set in commotion. All 
the different troops near immediately begin running in 
all directions over the plain, always following their 
leader in a straight line, and leaving their beaten tracks 
only when compelled to do so; the latter cross each 
other continually, quite like ordinary footpaths. The 
issue of the chase depends on the horse and the skill of 
the rider. The horse is kept on the left side of the buffalo, 
and the huntsman may approach the animal so closely 
before firing as almost to touch its shoulder with his pistol. 



Chap. IV. BUFFALO-HUNTING. 257 

None but a very unskilful huntsman ever expends his six 
charges without bringing down the animal. I have never 
seen resistance on the part of the buffalo, nor any combined 
defence of an attacked troop. I also observed that the 
whole herd never took other notice of an enemy in the 
midst of them than that the nearest bands moved aside. 
The numerous burrows of the prairie marmot render this 
chace dangerous, and only a horse accustomed to the 
ground, especially to buffalo hunting, is recommended to a 
novice. As I had no such horse, I was prevented taking 
an active part in the sport. A young man belonging to 
our caravan, who one day wished to try his luck, rode 
over a buffalo-calf, and was thrown from his horse, but 
without incurring any serious injury. 

Amongst our muleteers was a Mexican, who had been 
for about eight years a slave among the Comanches, and 
went by the name of " Comanche " in the caravan. This 
man was very skilful in flinging the laso, and caught with 
it not only several buffalo-calves, but one day a full-grown 
cow, when, unaided, he threw down the animal and bound 
its legs. When he announced this feat at the camp I 
rode back with him to see where the ccw lay. After the 
lad had thrown the laso round the creature's neck, whilst 
it stood still resisting its efforts, he rode, continuing to 
hold the cord tightly, several times round it, and in this 
manner gradually wound the cord around its legs tighter 
and tighter, till at last he overthrew the animal with a jerk. 
He then jumped quickly off his horse, and tied the four legs 
together with the end of the cord. We killed the animal 
by a single shot, and " Comanche*' immediately began to 
cut as much flesh from the carcass as we thought needed 
in the camp, without stopping to skin or clean the beast. 
As the lad was performing his task with incredible agility, 



258 PRAIRIE MARMOTS, Book II. 

cutting off at every incision several pounds of flesh, he 
presented a most barbaric appearance : man looked like a 
wild beast in the spectacle before me. The chief part of 
the carcass was left to the wolves and vultures, which, as 
soon as we had left, immediately took possession of their 
booty. 

The place where the buffalo-cow was caught and killed 
was a large burrow of the sociable prairie marmots, which 
have very incorrectly been called the prairie dogs. On a 
level spot of ground where all the vegetation is destroyed, 
and whose clayey surface is as hard as a barn-floor, rise 
innumerable heaps of earth, each with an opening at the 
top similar to the crater of a volcano : this is the entrance 
to the dwelling of a mar mot- family. A certain number of 
such families dig their holes near together, and form what 
is called a prairie-dog village. In many places these vil- 
lages occur in such numbers (sometimes with a small space 
between them, at others nearly touching each other) that 
they spread over hundreds of square miles. The little 
creatures allow but scanty vegetation to spring up near 
them, which often exposes the draught cattle of passing 
caravans to a dangerous want of fodder. This I met with 
afterwards further south, upon the road from San Antonio 
to El Paso, where in many places the grass is scanty 
enough without this additional cause. 

The prairie-marmot has often been described by tra- 
vellers. The idea that these gnawing animals share their 
dwellings with owls and rattlesnakes had always appeared 
to me fabulous, until I saw the fact with my own eyes. 
Not only is it true, but it invariably is the case, without 
exception. On approaching a marmot-village, the real 
possessors and builders of the dwellings are everywhere seen . 
popping their heads with curiosity but cautiously out of 



Chap. IV. WITH OWLS AND EATTLESNAKES. 259 

their holes, or sitting on the heaps of earth near the 
opening, and those who are away from their burrows im- 
mediately run home. Suddenly a whistling call is heard 
around, and the animals have all at once disappeared: 
at the same time little owlets, grey-brown, sprinkled with 
yellowish-white, with soft noiseless plumage, are seen 
fluttering about from one hole to another. Many fly in to 
their four-footed companions, while others alight at the 
entrance and sit with a demure look as if keeping w r atch 
over the dwellings. The little bird, whose body is not 
larger than a turtle-dove's (its full plumage makes it look 
much larger), can see perfectly well in broad daylight. It 
was not till afterwards that I convinced myself of the 
presence of the third fellow-tenant, nor do I know for a 
fact whether the rattlesnake is as regular an inhabitant of 
these marmot-holes as the little owl. I have frequently 
seen rattlesnakes basking in the sun before the entrances, 
and coming out of or going into the holes. The manner 
in which the snake rewards the hospitality shown to it 
interested me particularly : it takes upon itself the task of 
freeing its kind host from a too numerous progeny — a fact 
of which I was convinced by actually finding a young 
marmot in the stomach of a rattlesnake, inhabiting a mar- 
mot-burrow. Whether it does the same with the owlets, 
or whether these turn their especial attention to the young 
rattlesnakes, I cannot say. 

It is a remarkable fact that the ground-squirrel, which 
in a part of the State of California lays waste fields and 
meadows, also shares its subterranean dwellings with owls 
and rattlesnakes. There I have much oftener remarked the 
presence of rattlesnakes than among marmots. The owlet 
is either the same or a nearly-related species of that which 
lives with the marmots. 

s 2 



260 METEOEOLOGICAL OBSEKVATIONS. Book IT. 

During the last three days of August a hot south wind 
was blowing. In the night of the 1st of September signs 
of a change in the wind were perceptible : it lightened in 
the north under a cloudless sky, Towards morning there 
were broken clouds, and by noon the north wind set in : 
from that time we had several very cold nights. No dew 
had fallen during the south wind ; but as soon as the north 
wind set in, the grass was quite wet in the morning, and my 
feet became dreadfully benumbed with cold during my 
night-watch : the howling of the wolves also increased. 
Later on we were repeatedly exposed anew to a hot south 
wind, which caused illness among our people. I shall have 
occasion to notice the sudden change from this American 
sirocco to an icy north wind. 



Chap. V. THE ARKANSAS. 261 



CHAPTEK V. 

Continuation — The Arkansas — "Wolves — A Stampede — Comanches and 
Kiowas — Visit of Chiefs — Indian Mourning, and Military Decorations 

— Fort Atkinson — Further Intercourse with the Kiowas — ■ Pillaging 
Expeditions to Mexico, and Mexican Prisoners — Use of the Spanish 
Language among the Prairie-Indians — Gradual Destruction of the 
Character of the Kace — Indian Tribes converted into Bands of Eobbers 

— Eastern limit of the Apaches — Indian Kock-tomb — Indian Ideas of 
a Future Life — Slave Trade among the Indians — Crossing the Eiver 

— Indian Visits to the Camp — A Step from the Sublime to the Ridi- 
culous. 

The 3rd of September brought us to the bank of the 
Arkansas, at the spot where it reaches the extreme point 
of its northern bend. In the evening we encamped a few 
hundred yards from the river on a green sward of buffalo- 
grass. The shores of the river are composed of clay, as on 
the Missouri, the Ohio, and the Mississippi : the surface of 
the water was at that time from four to six feet below the 
level of the prairie. The shores are undermined by the 
water and gradually fall away, whilst on the opposite shore 
of the river sandbanks are formed. The water is clayey, 
and the bed is composed of dangerous quicksands, upon 
which no one can safely stand still long when bathing. At 
this season the river was fordable at any place. At the 
foot of the vertical embankments poplars and willows grow 
here and there. But the prairie extends everywhere 
to the edge of the embankments, in the sides of which 
were several wolves'-dens very near to us, from out of 
which we heard a continual howling and whining of the 
young cubs. At night the noise and howling of the old 
and young wolves produced a music quite indescribable : 



262 A STAMPEDE. Book II. 

wolves and buffaloes were continually crossing the river in 
our neighbourhood. As long as the plain is covered with 
buffaloes, the wolves are in no want of food, and some 
generally accompany the herd in their wanderings. We 
and our animals had nothing to fear from them ; but our 
stock of meat had to be nightly defended by our dog. 
Enticed by the meat, the wolves, as well as the smaller 
species, called by the Mexicans the Coyote, 1 approached 
so near us, that, if the shooting without necessity at night 
had not been against the rules of travelling, I could every 
moonlight night have shot one of these animals of prey 
without rising from my couch. I was told that in Nica- 
ragua the coyotes, when in great numbers, have actually 
ventured to attack men ; but in the prairies I never heard 
of such an occurrence. Although our mules were in no 
actual danger from the wolves and coyotes, they were 
continually disturbed by these nocturnal invaders stealing 
around us, whose visits may easily be attended by serious 
consequences. 

One night, when encamped on the Arkansas, I was on 
guard at about a thousand paces from our camp. Near 
me was a white mule, which always used to graze with its 
head turned away from the others, and invariably outside 
the drove of mules, as if it were their sentinel. As I 
happened to be looking at the animal it suddenly left off 
grazing, and looked into the darkness in a watchful and 
wary manner. On a sudden it snorted loudly and made a 
tremendous bound backwards : the whole drove, consisting 
of two hundred animals, was simultaneously seized with a 
like panic, and rushed off at full speed. All this happened 
so instantaneously, that before I had recovered from my 



An Aztec name — coyotl. 



Chap. V. A STAMPEDE. 263 

surprise the sound of their wild flight over the plain was 
heard receding further and further into the far distance, and 
I found myself alone in the dark solitude of the prairie. 
The fires in the camp were extinguished, so that for the 
moment I knew not whither to turn nor what course to 
pursue. I soon, however, heard steps close to me, and 
stumbled upon one of my comrades on guard, then upon a 
second and a third, until I had rejoined the whole body 
of sentinels, with the exception of a Mexican lad, whose 
duty it was to lead the bell-mare. In a short time he also 
was discovered. He had nearly paid the forfeit of his life 
for a neglect of duty : in order to be able to sleep whilst on 
guard, he had tied the cord of the bell-mare round his leg, 
so that when the drove of mules suddenly ran away, he was 
dragged along with them for some distance. Fortunately 
the cord got loose and the lad was left lying on the prairie, 
the only damage done being tattered clothes and some 
bruises. Meanwhile the camp was astir ; the noise made 
by the mules running away had been heard by our men — 
some threw themselves on the saddle-horses, which were 
always tied up to the waggons, and the pursuit of the run- 
away animals was commence^ : fortunately they had stopped 
at no great distance, and their flight was easily tracked, 
from the nature of the soil on the banks of the river. In 
the course of half an hour they were all safely lodged again 
in the corral. 

What Greek herdsmen used to term " panic terrors " 
is called by the American waggoners a " stampede," and 
next to a surprise by the Indians, and a fire in the prairie, 
this is one of the greatest dangers incurred on a caravan 
journey through a North-American wilderness. Besides 
the fear, in such an occurrence, of a man's being run over 
and trampled to death by the whole drove of animals 



264 COMANCHES AND KIOWAS. Book II. 

(comparatively a trifling misfortune), should there be 
Indians in the neighbourhood the whole drove may be lost ; 
and for this reason predatory Indians seek to occasion a 
" stampede." The loss of the animals generally includes 
that of the waggons and property and the ruin of the pro- 
prietors, not unfrequently attended by the death of some of 
the party. 

The next day, in passing Jackson's Grove, a few poplars 
and willows growing on the bank of the Arkansas, we per- 
ceived on both sides of the river numerous bands of Indians 
riding toward us. We were here only a day's journey 
distant from Fort Atkinson, and had hardly cause to fear 
any attack from the Indians, whose appearance, moreover, 
was pacific. We found that these people were Comanches, 
on their journey east to hunt buffaloes. They inquired 
eagerly after the direction where the buffaloes were to be 
found, and about their enemies, the Pawnees, of whom 
they seemed to be in great dread, and on whose hunting- 
ground they did not venture to enter. 

During the summer ther^ had been in the neighbour- 
hood of the Fort an assembly of Indian tribes, numbering 
altogether several thousand men, for the purpose of receiv- 
ing the presents of the Government, which are due to them 
according to treaty. The Government agent for these 
tribes had not made his appearance as soon as he was 
expected, and the Indians had threatened to attack the 
next caravans if the presents did not arrive soon. The 
young warriors had been clamouring for the immediate 
commencement of hostilities, and the interference of the 
older and more sensible chief alone prevented an outbreak. 
Under these circumstances it was fortunate for us that a 
short time before our passing this way the presents had 
arrived, and had given the greatest satisfaction to the 



Chap. V. VISIT OF CHIEFS. 265 

Indians ; having, according to the expressions of the chiefs 
who visited us, exceeded their expectations. The distribu- 
tion of these gifts is a wise stroke of policy in the Indian 
department of the government of Washington, as the 
savages by these means become gradually dependent on 
the wants of civilized life. 

In the afternoon we descried on the opposite side of the 
river a large Indian encampment of tents, nearly opposite 
to which we pitched our corral ; and soon a great number 
of men and women came riding through the river to 
visit us. 

On this occasion several of the principal chiefs of the 
northern Comanches honoured us with their presence, all pro- 
vided with written certificates of their names and character, 
given them partly by the government agents and partly by 
some officer of the United States army, who holds the com- 
mand in these parts. These documents, which they eagerly 
showed us, are intended as vouchers to travellers for the 
character of the native chiefs, and present, in fact, a 
ludicrous reverse of the passport system in the Old World, 
being at the same time the only passports met with in the 
United States. The wording of these certificates reads 
ludicrously enough ; take, for instance, the following : — 
" The possessor of this paper is the lied Sleeve, a celebrated 
chief of the Apaches, who is on friendly terms with the 
whites. Travellers will do well to show him kindness and 
respect, but they must at the same time be on their guard." 
Under this is written the visa of travelling traders : " The 
Red Sleeve has visited our camp, and conducted himself, 
with his followers, respectably." Further on : "Do not 
trust this fellow — he is a rascally Indian." When such a 
voucher is presented to you, with that taciturn gravity of 
which an Indian only is capable, you are obliged to control 



266 VISIT OF INDIAN CHIEFS. Book II. 

your features like an Indian, not to betray the humour of 
the thing, — an indiscretion which might have disagreeable 
consequences. 

On this occasion of the visit of the Comanches to our 
camp, beside a number of inferior people, the chiefs To- 
ho-pe-te-ca-ne, or the " White Tent" and Way-ya-ba- 
tosh-a, or the M White Eagle" came to pay their respects. 
These names, and their translation, are copied from the 
vouchers which these grand personages presented to us. 
After these came an older man, distinguished as much by 
his noble mien as his simple dress. The latter consisted 
merely of a blue woollen blanket wrapped round his body. 
His hair was cropped short, after the fashion of the whites, 
and no ornament of any kind was visible. He was accom- 
panied by a Mexican prisoner, who acted as interpreter, 
and told us that this was the great chief Okh-akh-tzo-mo, 
who had come to visit us ; and the reason he appeared in 
this simple dress and with cropped hair was that he was 
mourning the death of his son, whom the Pawnees had 
killed, and for whom he had not yet been able to take 
blood-revenge. The two younger men had appeared in 
our presence in the full attire of Comanche warriors, 
clothed in leather, with richly-ornamented mocassins, their 
faces daubed with red paint, and their heads ornamented 
with eagle's feathers ; their thick and long plaited hair 
hanging down their backs, loaded with silver plates, grow- 
ing smaller downward, — in the neck of the size of a 
saucer, at the end of the plait as large as half a dollar. 
These silver plates are made in Mexico expressly for the 
Comanches, and are an important article in the trade with 
these savages, which is carried on at the Presidio del Norte, 
at San Carlos, and at the Presidio del Rio Grande. At last 
an old man came into our camp who wore, over his Indian 



Chap. V. VISIT OF INDIAN CHIEFS. 267 

nether garments made of leather, the blue blanket-coat of a 
North American from the West. A pair of gilt epaulettes 
were attached to the coat — one on his breast, the other 
dangling at his back between his shoulders — by which the 
old Comanche prince (for such was the rank of our guest) 
was distinguished. His Indian highness, however, was not 
too proud, like the other notabilities of his tribe, to present 
to us a certificate of his character, in the handwriting of 
the commandant of a neighbouring fort, which stated that 
its possessor had formerly been one of the most dangerous 
and cruel enemies of the whites 5 but that he had latterly 
altered his disposition, and, from his influence with the 
Comanche tribes, was entitled to be treated with respect, 
but at the same time with great precaution. This man 
shook hands with marked formality with those whom he 
thought to be the chief among us, and gave us assurances 
of his friendship. We smoked with him, and treated 
him with coffee, as we had done with the others. His 
features were strongly marked, — his brow furrowed with 
deep wrinkles, his nose large and arched, and over a coffee- 
coloured face his straight hair hung in numerous plaits, 
through which glistened the characteristic vacant Indian 
eye. He had his wife with him, a fat, elderly woman, whose 
face retained the traces of some beauty, and the type of 
the better class of Mexican families. This person had 
probably been stolen in her childhood ; she did not dis- 
mount, but sat astride upon her horse, like all Indian 
women, taking no part in our conversation with the old 
Indian chief. Some young females of the lower class of 
Indians, however — one a very pretty girl — kept up an 
animated chat with pur drivers, and evidently tried to turn 
their coquetry to profit. 

Amongst the crowd we saw many stolen Mexican boys 



268 FORT ATKINSON. Book II. 

and girls, who seemed on the whole to be not badly treated. 
A light-haired, blue- eyed boy, with a fair complexion, and 
an open brow, must have come from a German settlement 
in Western Texas. When addressed in German, however, 
he did not answer. Another boy told us, in Spanish, that 
some years since he had been carried off with his sister 
from Mexico, and that his occupation during his detention 
consisted in herding his master's horses. 

In the evening, before dark, Okh-akh-tzo-mo exhibited 
his authority by ordering our Indian visitors to leave the 
camp and return home. To some, who did not obey 
immediately, he applied his horsewhip. Our camp was 
soon deserted, and we could at length enjoy our long- 
desired repose. 

These Comanches belong to the tribe which the 
Mexicans call Cibuleros, that is, Buffalo-hunters (from 
Cibulo, the buffalo) ; they live almost exclusively on buffalo- 
meat. They are on good terms with the Kiowas, who had 
a large encampment above the fort, and some of whom 
accompanied them on this visit. The language of the two 
tribes appears to differ entirely, but several of those present 
could speak both languages. 

On September 10th we reached Fort Atkinson. It is a 
group of adobe buildings, with canvas roofs, — something 
between a house and a tent. The word "fort," in America, 
does not always convey the notion of fortifications: the term, 
here, merely signifies a permanent camp of eighty foot- 
soldiers ; but to all these posts is attached a well-stored 
magazine where clothing, saddlery, ironmongery, tinware, 
and provisions may be obtained, from the indispensable 
flour and bacon up to preserved oysters and champagne. 
The travelling caravans lay in stores at these stations for 
their journey. We were, however, so well provided with 



Chap. V. FUKTHEE INTERCOURSE WITH THE KIOWAS. 269 

the chief delicacies, that we had, in these places, to sell — 
not to buy. 

In the Fort I saw an old Kiowa, the ugliest Indian I 
ever beheld. I can compare the expression of this fellow 
only to that of an hysena. But he had a beauty of his 
own : his mouth was drawn up on one side ; one of his 
eyes was half closed by the drooping eyelid, the other 
unusually wide open. He had a young Mexican woman 
with him, whose whole face was daubed with red paint. 
She begged us to purchase her, — her husband asking only 
two mules in exchange. He had, probably to enhance her 
value, expended so much red paint upon her face. It is 
characteristic of Indian bestiality, that the hind part of 
the horse which the old brute rode was painted round the 
root of the tail as carefully as the face of his wife. 

We halted a few miles above the Fort, and numbers of 
the Kiowas visited our camp. One of them was intro- 
duced by his Mexican interpreter, as a great " Captain," 
and he showed considerable pretensions to rank. On our 
leaving him a short time unnoticed, being otherwise occu- 
pied, his interpreter asked, "Why don't your captains speak 
with him ?" We then saluted him with all formality, and 
he sat down. " Why don't the other white men come and 
speak with him?" said the interpreter, pointing to our 
American drivers. "Because they are no captains, but 
my slaves," replied Mr. Mayer, with admirable presence 
of mind ; and this answer, flattering as it was to the Kiowa 
chief, had the happiest effect. The man became very 
conversable, — even cordial. With delight he told us how 
often he had accompanied predatory expeditions into 
Mexico — a " Campana" as he expressed it — and how 
much these enterprizes had brought him. He mentioned 
several Mexican localities which he had helped to plunder. 



270 MEXICAN PRISONERS. Rook II. 

" There," said he, " Caballos, mulas, muchachos, muchachas, 
— muchol — buenoT — (Horses, mules, boys, girls, — much! 
■ — good!) "Here, on the Arkansas, Nadal" — nothing. 
He had three boys with him, two of them his own children, 
the third stolen from Mexico. The last, however, was 
treated by him quite as his own children. We gave him 
some biscuit, which he distributed equally among the 
three boys. 

These people spoke Spanish with tolerable facility, and 
the interpreter of the Chief appeared to hold merely an 
office of etiquette. I heard groups of women and children 
conversing in Spanish. 

It is evident that, by naturalizing Mexican prisoners, 
the Indian race must become gradually effaced. Anglo- 
American desperadoes of the worst kind, robbers and 
murderers by profession, join these pillaging hordes, 
and gain great influence over them ; and if this system 
continues unchecked,- — whilst the race changes, but their 
occupation and mode of life remain the same,— the 
Indian tribes will gradually be transformed into robber 
hordes. It is a well-known fact that foreigners of European 
and semi-European extraction, when naturalized among 
the Indians of the wilderness, are the worst and most 
dangerous robbers. 

It is very erroneous to imagine that the Indians have a 
natural and instinctive hatred of the white race. A white 
man, otherwise qualified, who has a taste to be naturalized 
among the Indians, is always received by them with 
welcome, and may attain to high honours in the tribe. 
But what the Indian hates is civilization, as much in his 
own race as. among the whites. He makes no distinction 
of race in this respect, as is evident from the fact that 
there exists no less hostility between the settled and 



Chap. V. KIO WAS — APACHES. 271 

civilized Indians of Mexico and the savage tribes of the 
wilderness, than between the latter and the civilized whites. 
Even the Pimas, who dwell on the Gila, and form a 
valiant vanguard of old Mexican civilization against the 
Apaches and other plundering tribes of the north and east, 
speak of the latter in the same terms as civilized people 
speak of barbarians. " They are savages who do not 
pursue agriculture." The antagonism, consequently, is 
not one of race, but of mode of life, — the same which 
existed between the civilized States of the old Anahuac 
and the surrounding savages. I shall hereafter revert to 
this subject when speaking of the Apaches. 

These Kiowas were likewise on their way eastward, on 
an expedition to hunt buffaloes ; they eagerly enquired all 
particulars relative to the hunting-grounds in the east. 
They had quite as strong an enmity to the Pawnees as the 
Comanches, but seemed to be less afraid of them. They 
expressed the same hostility to the Mexican Apaches, 
whom they mentioned only with abuse. 

We met, a few days afterwards, on the other side of the 
river, a great chieftain of the eastern tribe of the Apaches, 
in another troop of Kiowas, with whom he seemed to be 
concerting a pillaging foray. Single tribes of the Apaches, 
I heard, live as far east as this district — a fact apparently 
not generally known. 

Neither the Comanches nor the Kiowas who visited us 
accepted brandy ; but they drank coffee and tea immode- 
rately, very much sweetened. They eat sugar in large 
quantities. Our guests were very suspicious; and we 
were obliged to partake in their presence of everything we 
offerea them, before they touched it. The old Comanche, 
with his gilt epaulettes, even smoked our tobacco with 
hesitation, and asked whether there might not be some- 



272 FORT ATKINSON. Book II. 

thing in it to send him to sleep. Such fears are not 
unfounded; it is a fact that the whites have attempted 
to poison whole tribes of Indians, and I have myself often 
heard the question discussed how this could be effected in 
the best manner. A story of the designed introduction of 
the small-pox amongst a remote Indian tribe is current in 
the west, and I have heard it related with every particular. 

Fort Atkinson must be an interesting station for a 
botanist. The slight variations in height in the soil exhibit 
a great variety in the character of the vegetation within a 
very small space. Yellow sunflowers, of various kinds, 
red Cinnias, blue Delphiniums and Salvias, white-leaved 
Euphorbias, and innumerable other flowers and herbs show 
a varied mixture of bright colours in the tall grass. Raised 
only a little above this flowery meadow, on the banks of 
the above -described conglomerate, and between detached 
masses of quartz, jasper, lava, &c, is another world of 
plants, on a dwarflike scale, — pigmy Asters, with small 
violet flowers; elegant little mallows, with crimson and 
vermillion blossoms ; low, grey, woolly Artemisias, of an 
alpine character, with a strong aromatic scent, similar to 
the A. muttelina of the Alps ; dwarflike Asclepias ; small 
white Syngenesistse, with only four marginal blossoms, 
which look like Cruciferce, — every kind of such plants in 
miniature, occasionally mixed with a leather -like Opuntia, 
cover the short scanty turf. 

In places a gulley has been washed away into the 
banks of conglomerate, in which gourds creep over the 
ground, while here and there grows an Archemone, or 
some other prickly plant, of which I do not know the 
name, in the crevices and farrows of the marl. 

Whilst encamped above the Fort I followed these con- 
glomerate banks in pursuit of a wolf, but without being 



Chap. V. INDIAN IDEA OF A FUTURE LIFE. 273 

able to get within shot ; he at last disappeared in a cavern 
among the rocks. As I was examining the entrance of 
this hole I observed a second opening filled up with loose 
stones. In removing these I found in the interior, wrapt 
in a piece of mouldering cloth, a quantity of human bones 
■ — part of a skeleton. The skull was in good preservation, 
and the jaws retained a set of fine white teeth, which, 
however, easily dropped out. Near these remains I found 
a leather bag, full of red paint, the tanned hide of a stag, 
a leather strap, which had evidently been a bridle, and a 
lump of buffalo-dung. These bones had, no doubt, 
belonged to the corpse of some Indian, and were here not 
in their original place of interment. The former grave 
may have been disturbed, and the friends or members 
of the tribe have probably collected these remains, and 
placed them here. The bones were much older than the 
cloth in which they were wrapt, and evidently the latter 
had never contained any of the flesh of the body. It con- 
sisted of a piece of the canvas which the caravans use for 
waggon-coverings. The offerings lying near the bones 
showed the notions which the friends of the deceased 
entertained of a future life. The dead man, they imagined, 
will require in another world a leather garment, red paint, 
to daub himself with, a bridle for his horse, and buffalo- 
dung to make a fire. The absence of all weapons was 
remarkable. 

On our journey the next day, a Kiowa, riding over the 
plain, came up to us, his wife and son remaining at a dis- 
tance, until, seeing there was nothing to fear, he fetched 
them also. The man and woman had a clever and good- 
natured physiognomy: they both looked with great inte- 
rest and evident pleasure on Mrs. M., who, with her 
husband, rode before me ; they then came up to me, 

T 



274 SLAVE TEABE AMONG THE INDIANS. Book II. 

inspected my carriage with much curiosity, and asked 
whether I too had not a wife. On my replying in the 
negative they offered to fetch me a girl out of their camp ; 
at the same time depicting in a lively manner by signs and 
words her charms and beauty. At last the man placed the 
forefinger of one hand on that of the other, adding an 
expressive " Bueno!" (good). " This woman," he said, 
pointing to his companion, "is a mere common woman" — 
mujer car . . . .a ; " the other, young, good — otra, chiquita, 
buena ! " So saying he held his fingers pointed before 
his breast. I replied that we were travelling further with- 
out delay, and that I could not wait for the girl ; to which 
he answered that his wife would fetch her, and in two 
days they would overtake us. On my positively declining 
the offer they both laughed, and rode off. Probably their 
intention was to sell me the girl, perhaps a Mexican, whom 
they had made prisoner. I might doubtless have had 
her for a few cups of well-sweetened coffee, as companion 
in our next camp ; for these procurers brought us the 
next evening a woman, richly bedaubed with red paint, 
who first tried her fortune in vain among the gentlemen of 
our party, and whom I afterwards saw amongst a group of 
our drivers by a camp-fire. 

From numerous enquiries I made respecting the customs 
of the Indians, I believe that most of the tribes keep pros- 
titutes on purpose ; either prisoners or women whom some 
peculiar circumstance has reduced to this degraded state. 
It is these women who are offered to strangers. 

On the 1 2th of September we crossed the Arkansas, the 
passage being successfully effected in three hours by our 
whole caravan. The bottom of the river is a quicksand, 
which is visible in parts above the surface of the water, 
apparently dry. If a waggon passes quickly over it the 



Chap. V. INDIAN VISITS TO THE CAMP. 275 

wheels rumble as if crossing a rocky path ; but if it stops 
for an instant the ground grows fluid, the wheels sink in, 
and shortly stand fixed, as if walled in ; the skill of the 
driver, therefore, consists in keeping the waggon in motion 
at all hazards. Sixteen mules were attached to each of 
our waggons, and at least four drivers walked by the side 
of each team to urge on the animals. 

We encamped on a low meadow on the other side of the 
river. The Indians, who during our passage had assembled 
in great numbers on the shore, accompanied us to our 
camp, waited until our dinner was prepared, and then offered 
unceremoniously to share our meal. 

Amongst our visitors was a man who introduced him- 
self as a chieftain of rank among the Kiowas. He wore 
the usual leather dress, with a blue blanket over it, and 
round his head a red handkerchief twisted in the fashion of 
a turban, which gave him quite an Asiatic appearance. 
The thought struck me of offering him a pair of old black 
trousers and an old silk waistcoat. Another one added a 
shabby felt hat, and this present was received with a 
delight which banished from the old man's face that 
impassive expression which Indian etiquette dictates. He 
unceremoniously pulled off his dress — by no means value- 
less — and donned these cast-off clothes. When the old hat 
had supplanted his red turban, a small looking-glass was 
added to the present. In this the man gazed at himself 
for a long time with speechless astonishment, until at last 
he broke out into the first gentle and then increasingly 
loud exclamations of " Bueno I " In his rapture he wanted 
to give me in return his whole equipment — leather gar- 
ment, blanket, bow, quiver, and arrows, a bag embroidered 
with pearls, the red handkerchief — in short, all he had 
about him. When I gave him to understand that I did 

T 2 



276 INDIAN VISITS TO THE CAMP. Book II. 

not accept any payment, but had freely made him this 
present, he extended his arms as if to embrace some huge 
object, and declared that I was a " Capitan tan grande ! " 
(Such a big captain !) 

He now ordered all his people present to leave our 
camp ; he himself had had enough, and thought the others 
might likewise be satisfied. He flung himself on his horse 
and, without taking leave, rode off, continually looking in 
the mirror and feeling himself with his hands. 






Chap. VI. PLANTS. 277 



CHAPTEE YI. 

Continuation — Country between the Arkansas and the Cimarron — Plants 
and Zones of Vegetation in Miniature — Water for Drinking and Washing 

— Wild-ducks — A Fugitive Murderer visits our Camp — Deserters from 
the Western Forts — Nature of the Soil — The Tarantula — Effects of 
Refraction — Valley of the Cimarron — The River — Electric Phenomena 

— Thunderstorm — Herds of Antelopes — The Bed of the Cimarron sud- 
denly filled with Water — Passage of the River — Aspect of the Country 
■ — Juniper-bushes — Distant Mountains — Curiosity of the Antelopes — 
The Rabbit's Ears — Fissure in the Lava — The Round Mound — Spurs of 
the Raton Mountains — Cienagas and Water-fowl — The Canadian — The 
Canon of the Ocate — Waggon Mounds — Salt Lake — Forests — La Mora 

— Settlements, and Agriculture — A Projected Town — A Day of Rest for 
Cattle and Men — Watershed between the Mississippi and the Rio Grande. 

Our road now continued in a W.S.W. direction, rising 
gradually from the river over loose sand, which ren- 
dered the journey very fatiguing. The country around 
presented a desolate aspect, with here and there only a 
tuft of grass rising from the sand, a cactus, or a sun^ 
flower. We gradually approached a layer of firmer 
ground, a sandy clay, forming a level plateau, and growing 
a short turf of buffalo-grass. Now and then the latter is 
broken by a barren spot, or by a group of large-leaved As- 
clepise, white Euphorbise, grey Artemisae, white-blossomed 
Asters, or by one of the innumerable yellow-flowering plants 
of the family of Compositce. Most of these plants occur 
in groups of the same species, according to the peculiarity 
of the soil on which they grow. There are circular depres- 
sions in the ground, which are at times filled with water, 
the bottom being coated with stiff clay. These depressions 
are very flat, the water in the middle being rarely two feet 
deep. All round their edge the ground rises a few feet, 



278 WATER FOR DRINKING AND WASHING. Book II. 

until it reaches the surrounding level, and this embank- 
ment is surrounded with annular zones of vegetation, in 
which are seen in successive rows most of the plants that 
grow on the plain in groups. This phenomenon, there- 
fore, is no doubt attributable to the same causes that 
regulate the formation of the zones, and arises from the 
circumstance that the smallest variations of height in the 
soil cause differently mixed strata and other conditions of 
moisture to appear on the surface. These are phenomena 
showing some of the laws which regulate the geographical 
distribution of plants on the smallest scale, and the shallow 
basins of water, many being only a few paces in diameter, 
may be called lakes en miniature. 

Water is found in this desert — for such indeed the tract 
between the Arkansas and the Cimarron must be called — 
in a second form : in irregular holes in the sand, called by 
the waggoners " sand-pans." The reader may easily con- 
ceive that in both these natural reservoirs the fluid is 
neither very clear nor pure ; and I must remark, that in 
this journey, as well as on my subsequent travels through 
the interior of the continent, I speak of pure water as of 
exceptional occurrence. When I use the term water it 
generally designates a brackish mud, and for a long time 
I have drank water which was not clean enough to wash 
my face in. On these muddy pools in the desert between 
the Arkansas and the Cimarron, I saw on this journey the 
first wild ducks. They increased in numbers as we pro- 
ceeded westward. 

We travelled throughout the night, and the following 
morning encamped close to a pool of water. The wind 
blew cold from the north, and one of our drivers was 
suffering so much from rheumatism as to be quite disabled 
from service. I advised him to take a bath in the pool, 



Chap. VI. A FUGITIVE MURDERER. 279 

and after this to have himself rubbed hard. The remedy 
was completely successful. The wind suddenly shifted 
from the north, and a very close south wind succeeded, 
the change causing dizziness and vomiting in several of 
our people. I found throughout the whole journey that 
a southerly wind invariably produced a disagreeable and 
often injurious effect on the body. Even north of the 
Arkansas, during such a warm wind, one of our drivers, a 
tall and strong-built blue-eyed Kentuckian, fell senseless 
and in convulsions on the ground as I was walking by his 
side and speaking with him. I bled him, by which he 
recovered. 

Whilst encamped by this pool we saw a single horse- 
man come up to us across the plain ; he dismounted and 
claimed hospitality. During his stay he confided to us 
the fact that he had shot a man in New Mexico, and had, 
in consequence, been obliged to fly. It requires desperate 
resolution to travel from New Mexico to Missouri alone ; 
this man, however, had a horse and a gun. We repeatedly 
met, at different points of our journey, deserters from the 
forts of New Mexico, who had travelled on foot for many 
hundred miles over the wilderness alone and unarmed. 
Some of them had subsisted for weeks together on locusts, 
lizards and frogs, before we supplied them with provisions. 

The further we advanced the more sterile the plateau 
became and the harder the soil, which, as far as the eye 
reached, presented a perfectly level plain. Proceeding 
over a tract of loose sand, we came to Sand Creek, the bed 
of which was dry, and on the further side the soil was 
again hard and level. The stratum of hard clay always 
lies above the loose sand. 

Here I saw, for the first time, one of those large hairy 
spiders called tarantula by the Mexicans, but differing 



280 EFFECTS OF KEFR ACTION. Book II. 

from the European tarantula. They are found in the 
deserts and steppes from the Arkansas to California, as well 
as throughout a great part of Mexico ; and this insect, 
the very sight of which creates a disagreeable feeling, is 
with reason more feared than the rattlesnake. Its bite is 
perhaps less immediately dangerous, but its consequences 
are far more difficult of cure than those of the bite of 
the rattlesnake. During my travels in North America 
persons of my party were, on two occasions, bitten by 
rattlesnakes ; in both cases they drank brandy in large 
quantities as an antidote, and the danger passed without 
any subsequent inconvenience. One of our drivers, on the 
contrary, told me that his brother had lost an eye from 
the bite of a tarantula near the temple, and had subse- 
quently become idiotic. 

On the third day of our journey through the desert, 
towards evening, the refraction raised into the air, above 
the horizon, the picture of the heights on the other side of 
the Cimarron. This effect of the unequally-heated strata 
of air often produces strange phenomena on these plains. 
Objects which appear on the horizon are lengthened out to 
a gigantic size, and a buffalo-herd on the Arkansas looked 
like a group of trees. 

Soon after, we had in reality a view of the valley of the 
Cimarron. With the green pasture, but without either 
tree or shrub, enclosed on both sides by banks of sandstone 
and conglomerate, this slight depression presented a true 
oasis in the desert, between the greyish-brown barren heights 
of the plateau on either side. But the oasis itself is here 
only a milder form of desert nature. The river — if I may 
call it so — formed at the point where we reached it a small 
stagnant and brackish brook, running amongst reeds and 
rushes. On its bank, however, we found some springs of 



Chap. VI. ELECTRIC PHENOMENA. 281 

sweet water, the so-named " Lower Springs," near which 
we halted. 

In the evening the lightning played all around, and heavy 
clouds promised rain ; but only a few drops fell. As I 
was standing on guard, between nine and eleven o'clock, I 
saw a waving light over the heights on the north side of 
the valley : its motion resembled that of the fluctuating 
reflections of the Fata Morgana, under a gentle agitation 
of the air. Two bright points suddenly appeared, like 
rising stars, but soon vanished again. This light I ob- 
served for above half an hour. During the whole time 
the sky was clouded, and there is no doubt that this luminous 
phenomenon was seated within the stratum of air imme- 
diately above the ground. 

On the north side of the river the road runs along 
it — one while through the valley, at another ascending 
to the plateau over banks of sand and conglomerate. Small 
semi-spherical cacti grew at the top upon the hard clay soil, 
while here and there small patches of grass, of different 
species, covered the ground. In the distance we saw hills 
of drift-sand, the forms of which recalled those of the snow 
on Alpine summits heaped up by the wind. When at the 
bottom we again came upon the river : nothing was to be 
seen of it but a few saltwater-pools between drift-sand and 
scattered reeds. In some places there was hardly any 
river's bed perceptible : the drift-sand had filled it up, and 
salt-grass or reeds had overgrown it. It looked as if no 
water had flowed here for years, and this may perhaps 
have been the case. The sand was covered with salts, 
which, to judge from the taste, consisted of a mixture of 
common salt and sulphate of magnesia. 

On the 17th of September we n eared the " Middle 
Springs " at nightfall, as a storm was approaching, and at 



282 THUNDERSTORM. Book II. 

ten o'clock we reached the spot for our encampment just 
as it began. It was a wild scene— the drivers bringing up 
the waggons to form the corral — the unyoking and collecting 
the animals in the pitch darkness, and amid thunder and 
lightning. 

Scarcely was this business finished when the most fearful 
hurricane came sweeping from the north that I have ever 
witnessed in the North-American steppes. The violence 
of the wind, which shook even the heaviest waggons, 
baffled attempts to seek protection from clothing, and a 
doubled woollen coat of the thickest cloth, together with 
two blankets, in which I wrapped myself, were penetrated 
by the cold wind as if it was thin muslin. The mules 
trembled and crowded together, seeking shelter behind 
anything ; and whilst I was standing on guard one or other 
of these animals was constantly pressing against me, on the 
lee side, as a kind of shelter against the wind. At the 
same time the wind swept along mingled rain and snow, 
and the darkness was so great that we were knocking 
against carriages and animals without being able to see 
them. After two hours I left my post on guard, stiff with 
cold and wet through, and in this state I was obliged to 
pass the night, finding shelter only in our travelling-carriage. 
From my own experience as well as the example of others 
I have convinced myself that there exist in civilized life the 
most ridiculous prejudices as to what man can bear without 
injury to his health. 

The climate of the country around the Cimarron is in 
bad repute : it was here that, a few years ago, more than a 
hundred mules perished in one night from cold, belonging 
to Mr. Speier, a well-known trader to Santa-Fe and Chi- 
huahua. Their scattered bones are still to be seen. 

The middle springs are clear sources on the north side 



Chap. VI. BED OF THE CIMARRON. 283 

of the river, in a little rocky valley, enclosed by banks of 
sandstone and conglomerate. Further up the character of 
the principal valley improves: the soil, although sandy, 
becomes firmer, and is more overgrown with grass. At a 
distance, toward the west, are seen the first mountains — ■ 
high table-lands, completely level at the top — and toward 
the south several side-valleys branch off from the chief one. 

On the 20th the caravan was delayed by a team becoming 
restive and breaking the axletree of a waggon, just as at 
nightfall we were about to pass the dry bed of the Cimarron 
to encamp on the other side. We remained on the north 
side. The next morning, at daybreak, the bed of the river 
was filled with a deep and rapid stream, which rendered its 
passage impossible : here we halted two days, to await the 
subsidence of the water. After it had fallen a little we 
found, on the third day, a spot where a passage was prac- 
ticable, and reached the other bank safely. Probably, 
during the last hurricane from the north, there had been a 
heavy fall of snow in the Eaton mountains, and the sudden 
melting of the snows during the south wind had afterwards 
caused the sudden filling of the bed of the river ; for this 
took place in the most beautiful weather and with a cloud- 
less sky. 

In this part of the country our sportsmen shot the first 
antelopes. I had already seen two of these animals at a 
distance when we first reached the Arkansas. They are 
indeed rarely seen so far east : here they were more fre- 
quently seen, and in herds of twenty to thirty. 

From the banks of the Cimarron, which we left on the 
23rd of September, the general level of the country rises 
much more steeply than hitherto. We had travelled from 
Independence to Council Grove, at a mean elevation of 
about 1 100 feet above the level of the sea. This elevation 



284 THE UPPER SPRINGS. Book II. 

in our route west had increased to 1500 feet: we had 
crossed the Arkansas at about 2700, and the Cimarron at 
3800 feet. The continuation of our journey now led us 
rapidly to a table-land of 5000 to 6000, and nearly 
7000 feet. These latter heights, it must be observed, were 
of the general level of the country, although at the foot of 
the mountains of New Mexico. 

On the first day's journey on the south side of the 
Cimarron we reached the neighbourhood of the so-called 
" Upper Springs." Here, where the sandstone of the Jura- 
formation commences with towering masses of rock, the 
country increases in interest. I ascended to the rocky 
summit over the first rising ground, on the right of the 
road. On the highest point I found clear water in the little 
hollows of the rocks. In different places were breastworks, 
built of stones — probably Indian places of ambush. I 
had a wide view over the country : overhead was a cloud- 
less sky ; distant unknown sounds reached my ear ; high 
in the air passed a flock of cranes in a wedge-like double 
line — an appearance we saw more frequently as we advanced 
westwards. 

The Upper Springs are a spot, not without the peculiar 
charms of the wilderness. Between naked sandstone rocks, 
on which is merely a scanty growth of yucca bushes, lies a 
small valley of meadow-land, with a group of poplars on a 
brook which further down is dried up again. Through the 
opening of the valley the view extends down to the level of 
the prairie, which reaches to the distant eastern horizon, 
and has the appearance of the ocean. Here we halted to 
take our noon-day dinner. On starting again we had 
towards evening one of the most interesting landscape 
scenes at the side of our road. Over the valley of the 
upper Cimarron, shut in by terraces of rock, the view 



Chap. VI. CURIOSITY OF THE ANTELOPES. 285 

stretched to the opposite plateau, the declivities of which 
were everywhere overbrowed by rocks. In the north- 
west it is divided into several distinct plateaus, tables, 
square chests, and blocks, the surfaces of which form one 
horizontal line. Above these rise, at a greater distance, 
single domes, — evidently volcanic cones, similar to those 
which, a few days' journey further south-west, we passed 
on our road. The whole scene, with its red-brown, black- 
brown, yellow-brown, violet and blue tints, produced the 
most peculiar impression. 

At the Cedar Spring, where the first bushes of the 
juniper-cedar, with scented wood, begin, appeared in the 
distance west-north-west the tops of the Raton mountains ; 
and in the direction of west-south-west the domes of Rabbit's 
Ears and Round Mound. We came to a small hollow, 
where, on the dry bed of a brook, a few scantily-growing 
vines intertwined between young willows and poplars. 

I had gone in advance of the caravan, and was examining 
some small plants on the ground on the other side of the 
height, when I heard a noise behind me, and looking round 
I saw — at a distance of five or six paces — two antelopes, 
which eyed me attentively ; but before I could snatch up 
my gun which lay by my side, and prepare for a shot, 
these nimble creatures were off, flying over the ground like 
a shadow. It is well known that the antelope is equally 
curious and timid : the first of these qualities is taken 
advantage of by sportsmen ; they wave a red cloth tied to 
the end of the barrel, and frequently succeed thus in 
enticing one of these animals within shot-range. 

The Rabbit's Ears, two trap domes, rising from the same 
basis, we left lying beyond a deep fissure, which, for many 
miles, passes through the entire thickness of the trap lava 
down to the underlying sandstone. Without perceiving this 



286 THE ROUND MOUNT. Book II. 

cleft, over the edges of which only the top of a few juniper- 
trees were seen, I rode straight toward the foot of the two 
domes — a general uprising of the prairie — until I saw at my 
feet the deep chasm in the rock, which cuts off all communi- 
cation with the other side. This fissure proves that the rise 
of the ground, which forms the basis of the two cones, has 
been caused by upheaval. The cones may have arisen 
in part (as is evidently the case with Hound Mound) from 
the heaping up of thrown-out masses, and at the same time 
streams of lava have overflowed the country around the 
point of eruption. 

We drove along the cleft for some distance, until it wore 
away and allowed us to cross to the other side. Here the 
ground was again higher, and we proceeded toward Bound 
Mount — another trap dome — which I ascended, whilst the 
caravan encamped at its foot. The mountain stands on a 
bladder-like rising of the ground (similar to the base of 
Babbit's Ears), whose upraising has caused another similar 
fissure. I could only see this latter from the top of the 
mount, at a distance. The base is all around strewn with 
red and brown scoria and small ejected pieces of lava and 
half-melted sandstone : it rises to a height of about eight 
hundred feet above the plain, consisting of strata of lava 
overlaying one another. The rocks of the summit were 
clothed with a thick covering of yellow lichens : on its 
sides I found a pretty little Liliacea, and the first speci- 
men of the Opuntia arborescens, a plant which in the north 
of Mexico is one of the natural features of the country. A 
small alpine-looking Artemisia, with grey felt-like leaves 
and of an exceedingly aromatic scent, formed great part of 
the vegetation on this cone : the grass of the prairie grew 
up the sides and to the top of the mountain. Here I was 
rewarded by a grand view. To the north-west rose the 



Chap. fl. SPURS OF THE EATON MOUNTAINS. 287 

flat but regular cone of Fisher's Peak — an old volcano, with 
small truncated cones in the plain at its foot, whilst behind 
them the snow-capped summits of the Rocky Mountains 
appeared. The eastern chain of this great range of moun- 
tains reaches its southern extremity in these parts, and the 
road to Santa Fe runs around it. A line of black stripes 
extended parallel to the horizon, • through the plain at the 
foot of the small hills. I suspected these stripes to be the 
brows of the abrupt edges of flat masses of lava, which lie 
at a small elevation above the level of the plain. 

The continuation of the road, after crossing several small 
valleys, leads round the rocky extremities of the Raton 
Mountains and its spurs — rows of naked cones on the plateau, 
with rampart-like contreforts. These spurs radiate from 
a centre, and in the space between these radii the prairie 
rises in angular sections. Fragments of sandstone and 
trap, the former often with marks of the influence of heat, 
lay strewn on the road. We passed in the dark the 
"Point of Rocks," the extreme spur of this mountain- 
group. The specimens which I picked up on the road in 
the dark proved the next morning to be a dioritic trap. 

At this place the road passes over a flat elevation 
of the plateau, not less than 6500 feet above the level of 
the sea. Thence, as far as the Canadian or False Red 
River, it again sinks for about 900 feet. On the summit 
we found small shallow lakes — cienagas — surrounded by a 
green border of reeds: they were covered with flocks of 
geese, ducks, and water-hens. 

On the 30th we passed the Canadian River, which 
flows rapidly over a bed of sandstone. It issues from the 
high mountains, the valleys of which were opening 
towards us. Some Anglo-Americans are said to have 
settled there, attracted by the advantageous nature of the 



288 WAGGON MOUNDS. Book TI. 

country. Below us the river falls into a hollow — Canada 
■ — into which, also, the fissure of the Ocate opens. 

We travelled round this deep and narrow cleft (Cation 
del Ocate) at its head. The view down into this chasm, 
locked in by perpendicular sandstone walls, is exceedingly 
wild. The edge is bordered by pine trees, and pines 
stretch forth their heads from out the depth of the abyss. 
In the middle of a barren and level plain is this precipice, 
which leads down into a deep wilderness hidden from 
sight, — one of the most fearful scenes I have ever witnessed. 

The "Waggon Mounds," which the road passes further 
on, are pointed summits of trap. The rock is the same 
as that of the Babbit's Ears and Bound Mount ; but it 
presents here, as in numerous rocky points, fissures and 
precipitous declivities of the surrounding country, an 
almost columnar formation — and thus approaches the 
character of a real basalt. The traveller first climbs over 
limestone, over which the trap has poured. In the lowest 
stratum, in contact with the limestone, it has a schisteous 
character : towards the top it becomes massy, and irre- 
gularly burst and cleft. Bed and brown scoriae lie here 
and there on the surface of the declivity. 

Before reaching the foot of the mountain, a semicircle 
of the plateau, closed in by the steep declivity of the 
higher mesa 1 or terrace covered with the trap lava, is seen 
to the right of the road . This amphitheatre contains a salt 
lake, in the shape of a crescent, its convex side follow- 
ing the course of the rocky acclivity. The efflorescence 
of this lake, which covers the soil with a white deposit, 
appears chiefly to consist of soda. 



1 Mesas, i. e. tables : the mountain plateaus and terraces that are so frequent 
in Mexico are so called in Spanish. 



Chap. VI. LA MOEA. 289 

South of the principal summit extends a line of trap-rocks 
with pointed and columnar tops, rendering still more 
gloomy the wild character of the adjacent country, which 
is intersected by the rocky hollows of the Canadian Kiver 
which are covered with pine forest. 

Passing over a high vaulted limestone plateau, inter- 
sected by the sandstone valleys of Wolf Creek and Duck 
Creek, we descended into the valley of the Mora, a small 
river, on which, higher up, at the foot of the mountain- 
range, lies the small New Mexican town of the same name. 
Immediately below, in the valley, are the first New Mexi- 
can settlements — the house of Mr. Waters — and further 
below Barclay's Fort, a fortified private dwelling, occupied 
by that gentleman and his New Mexican servants. 

On the road from the Waggon Mounds to this spot are 
seen, to the right, the first heights covered with forest 
(pines) ; whilst to the left the view extends into the wooded 
lateral hollows of the Canadian. Here and there the 
road itself touches the forest — the first met with from the 
Missouri frontier to this place. The road, in this region, 
runs over a terrace, above which the mountains rise in the 
west, whilst in the east the above-mentioned defiles inter- 
sect it, and thus form the transition to the lower country. 

The Anglo-Americans call the little river whose valley 
we here reached, as well as the little town, " Moro," — pro- 
bably from the word "moor." But the name is Mora, a word 
which signifies a mulberry, or the mulberry-tree. 1 Near 
the house of Mr. Waters, which, being the first dwelling of 
civilized man after a wilderness of many hundred miles, 
deserves mention, two small rivers meet, one of which 



1 In the same manner the tops of the I little town should be called the Mora 
mountain-chain that rises behind this | Peaks, and not the Moro Peaks. 

U 



290 LA MORA. Book II. 

is the Mora — properly so called ; the other a tributary of 
it. From this circumstance the place is called the " Junta," 
or the Confluence. The country around this spot and 
up the two small rivers forms a splendid plain surrounded 
by mountains, and covered partly with natural pasture and 
partly with fields of maize. It belongs to a company, who 
propose to found here a town, for which the locality is 
especially adapted. Insecurity from the marauding Indians 
is perhaps the only obstacle opposed to the success of such 
an enterprize. About a mile above the Junta stands 
Barclay's Fort, on the Mora, a quadrangle of buildings 
surrounded by a wall, and provided with two cannon. I 
have before mentioned that this is simply a private 
dwelling. Such names as Barclay's Fort, Bent's Fort, 
Layton's Fort, often give erroneous notions to European 
geographers: these spots are merely fortified private esta- 
blishments. 

From the Junta downward the little river Mora, after 
leaving the plain, enters a wooded valley partly enclosed 
by rocks, which lower down deepens and narrows into 
a hollow, conducting the clear water of the Mora to the 
Canadian River. 

We rested here a whole day for the sake of our mules, 
and bought for them some maize for fodder, which they 
greatly needed after their hard toil and the poor food 
of the withered winter grass. Nevertheless, we had not 
hitherto lost a single animal of our drove. Our people 
too gave themselves up to enjoyment, after their fashion ; 
some got intoxicated, and began quarrelling ; others dis- 
appeared from the camp, and did not return till the next 
morning, — when I heard that this frontier locality, but just 
reclaimed from a perfect desert, was inhabited by a 
number of Mexican girls, who make a trade of selling 



Chap. VI. SETTLEMENTS AND AGRICULTURE. 291 

their favours to passing travellers. Small cottages, 
situated here and there in some corner, are the dwellings 
of these girls. I was told that even larger establishments, 
devoted to this traffic, are connected with certain settlements 
in this part of the country. Thus here, on the western 
edge of the great North American desert, are found the 
counterpart of African caravan-stations. 

On the other hand, it was pleasing to see here the 
beginnings of a sound culture, and to witness the courage 
with which this has been attempted. The new works of 
irrigation, for which the river has been used (throughout 
New Mexico the basis of all agriculture), and the maize- 
fields and plantations of other vegetables, produced an 
agreeable impression. No one who has not experienced 
this can, perhaps, quite understand the charm that attaches 
to any spot where human effort is perceptible after a long 
residence in a perfect wilderness. 

The buildings of this infant settlement are erected of 
adobes, with flat roofs, in the Mexican fashion, which 
carries one — although in a territory of the United States — 
quite into another world. Indeed, the whole of New 
Mexico has, and will retain, a character quite foreign to 
the spirit of the United States. 

On the 5th of October we arrived at Las Yegas, a 
miserable place in a valley running north and south, at 
the foot of the sandstone mountain mentioned in the pre- 
ceding chapter. The valley lies at an elevation of 6000 
to 7000 feet above the sea. Wheat and maize are grown 
here. The inhabitants of Las Yegas are a miserable 
population of New Mexicans ; amongst them have settled 
some Anglo-American retail dealers, innkeepers, and specu- 
lators, who inhabit the less miserable dwellings. The build- 
ings are all constructed of adobes, mostly consisting of a 

u 2 



292 NEW MEXICAN FRONTIER TOWN. Book II. 

single room, and furnished with a small hole for a window. 
Upon the mud walls unhewn rafters are laid, which are 
covered with clay, forming a flat-roof. If the little 
window-aperture is closed with a plate of gypsum, this is a 
domestic luxury of very rare occurrence. It is difficult to 
picture to oneself the wretched appearance of such a New 
Mexican frontier town. When, in addition to all this, an 
isolation from the world greater than that upon any of 
the larger islands in the Pacific, and the constant insecurity 
of life and property from wild Indians is considered, the 
reader may imagine the life of a man who has been 
accustomed to civilization. Nevertheless, its position on 
the Santa Fe road offers great advantages, which some 
foreigners settled here have turned to advantage. A Ger- 
man resident has grown rich here, leaving at his death a 
considerable fortune, which gave rise to a lawsuit respecting 
the inheritance. 

After travelling about fifteen miles further, passing 
through the above-mentioned rocky pass of the sandstone 
range, we arrived at its western side, and there encamped 
for the night in a valley, without water, between sandstone 
mountains, and overgrown with pines and juniper trees. 



Chap. VII. THE UPPER PECOS. 293 



CHAPTEE VII. 

Continuation — Journey along the Edge of the Plateau on the Eastern Side of 
the Rio Grande — The Upper Pecos Valleys — Character of the Country — 
Breeding of Sheep — Caravan Law — Mexicans in Service of Anglo- 
American Masters — Anton Chico — Canon Blanco — Cold Nights — 
Singular Hospitality and Corresponding Reward — Plateau of Manzanas — 
Landscape Scenery — Ruins and Mountain -Pass of Cuarra — Larks, 
Magpies, and Daisies in New Mexico — Descent into the Valley — Steep 
Alluvial Terraces — Vegetation — '"Volcanic Hills in the Valley — View from 
the Summit — Tree Vegetation near the River — Water- fowl — La Joyita. 

The country on the Upper Pecos, which we had entered 
through the defile of Las Vegas, is a succession of wide 
and narrow clefts and valleys, between table-shaped sand- 
stone mountains which they encompass, and larger moun- 
tain plateaus, which these valleys intersect, from the strata 
of the Jurassic formation down to that of the new red 
sandstone. A thin forest of pines and juniper trees, with 
an underwood of dwarf oaks, spreads over hill and valley, 
here and there interrupted by pasture-land, whilst there is 
occasionally seen on the sandy or stony soil, amongst trees 
and bushes, a low Yucca, a small Opuntia arborescens, a 
white-flowering Aster, a delicate crimson Phlox, or some 
other plant flowering in that season. 

A considerable breeding of sheep is carried on in this 
part of New Mexico, as well as in other sections of 
the territory ; and we met, in these deserts, large flocks of 
sheep, under the care of shepherds, armed with bow and 
arrow. They are driven for the night into sheep-folds, 
to protect them against the wolves ; but whenever the 
Indians have an appetite for roast mutton, flocks and 
shepherds are pretty much at their mercy. We paid a 



294 MEXICANS IN SEEYICE OF Book II. 

dollar a-piece for some sheep purchased for our caravan. 
The breed is a small one. I do not venture to judge of 
the value of the wool, but the meat has an excellent 
flavour. 

There had been a storm and rain during one of the nights 
we spent in this part of the country, and at daybreak 
the guard mentioned that a valuable horse had disappeared 
from the corral, and that at the same time one of our 
Mexican muleteers was missing who, probably, had de- 
camped with the animal. The recent rain enabled us to 
track and follow him. Arrangements were made for the 
pursuit of the deserter, who, as we discovered on a closer 
examination, had also broken open the boxes of some of 
his companions, and taken part of their contents. The 
nearest human dwellings were distant about a day's journey, 
with the little village of Anton Chico not far off : but the 
thief, in order to secure himself and his booty, had taken 
the road to Las Vegas ; and here we recovered our horse 
the next day, although nearly destroyed by an incessant 
gallop of forty to fifty miles. We could not catch the 
thief: he had sold the animal, which was worth several 
hundred dollars, for five dollars and a blanket. 

Whilst we were busied with the pursuit of the thief the 
attention of the party was drawn to a Mexican lad, one 
of our muleteers, — the same who, at the nocturnal 
" stampede " on the Arkansas, had been dragged along. 
We thought it probable that the theft might have been 
committed whilst he was on guard at the corral; and, 
according to the mode of dealing practised toward Mexicans 
by the Anglo-Americans, this suspicion was sufficient to 
justify inquisitorial violence. My heart revolted at the 
sight of the boy tied to a waggon- wheel : it was out of my 
power to interfere, and when a stout American driver 



Chap. VII. AXGLO- AMERICAN MASTERS. 295 

advanced with a heavy mule-whip, I stepped aside to avoid 
witnessing any further proceedings. 1, however, heard 
the lad called upon to confess, and his repeated assertion 
of his innocence. Then the lash descended — " For the 
love of God, sir, do not beat me!" — "Speak! confess!" 
— A second time the whip descended. — " For the sake of 
your mother's life, sir, do not strike me ! " — " Speak ! 
confess ! " — A third stroke followed. — " For the sake of the 
beautiful eyes of your wife ! Stop ! I will confess." The 
lad now confessed that the thief had threatened him with 
death should he betray him ; that hereupon he had let the 
horse pass out, and the thief ride off while he was on 
guard, without raising an alarm ; but that he knew nothing 
more, and was no further implicated in the theft. 

Such occurrences frequently happen in the North 
American trading-caravans, in whose service Mexicans 
are engaged ; and these people are, indeed, under the 
Anglo-Americans in a position quite unprotected by law. 
The conductors of the caravans subject them to penal 
discipline, which is allowed neither by the laws of the 
United States nor by those of the Mexican Republic ; for 
in Mexico, the law gives the master no right to the cor- 
poral chastisement of his peons. The Mexican victim of 
Anglo-American violence there has, commonly, no legal 
protection : the most distant attempt to deal with an 
Anglo-American, who has hired himself out as a labourer, 
as is so frequently done with Mexicans on the journey and 
in the frontier places, would doubtless result in the instant 
death of any one who should venture the attempt ; and not 
until the Mexicans, in their intercourse with Anglo- 
American masters, venture their lives in resisting attempts 
against their honour and liberty, in the same decided 
manner, will they be secure from such treatment. He 



296 ANTON CHICO. Book II. 

who can assert his rights will always be treated by the 
Anglo-Americans with consideration ; but woe to the weak 
who are unable to defend themselves ! The general con- 
sent of public opinion in the United States, adjudges the 
rights of man to him only who has the power to assert 
them. Whatever laudable qualities the Anglo-American 
may possess, he wants one of the essential graces of man 
— generosity of the strong toward the weak ; — no observant 
person can regard the gallantry shown to ladies in the 
United States in this light, inasmuch as, if for no other 
reason, the female sex has here assumed the position of 
the stronger part, on account of the smaller number in 
which it exists at the beginning in every colony. 

Anton Chico is a small place of wretched appearance 
resembling Las Yegas ; but which has a still more death- 
like aspect from its distance from the high-road. The 
stony heights of the surrounding country, dotted here and 
there with single juniper-bushes, impart to it a desolate 
and gloomy character ; and the dilapidated mud-walls, 
against which, wrapt in his old shabby serape, a man is 
occasionally seen leaning, to thaw his stiffened limbs in 
the sun, with groups of women and children seated on 
the ground, all present a concentrated picture of North 
Mexican misery. 

Half a mile below this spot, our caravan crossed the 
Pecos, a small muddy river, on the other side of which 
the road ascends from the sandstone soil of the valley to a 
flat limestone hill, upon which we found a little rain-water 
in the hollows of the rocks. Pines, juniper-trees, and 
dwarf-oaks, covered the country in a park-like appear- 
ance. Stretching toward W.N.W., a dry rocky valley, 
called the Canon Blanco, or White Defile, passes from 
the Pecos Valley through the plateau of white sandstone 



Chap. VII. . SIXGULAK HOSPITALITY. 297 

of the Jura formation, which separates the Pecos from the 
Rio Grande. The road from Anton Chico to Albuquerque, 
by Galisteo, leads through it ; and we took this road with 
the intention of turning, after a time, on to the plateau in 
a southerly direction. The valley forms an open forest of 
pines and juniper-trees, between sandstone rocks. We 
were obliged to encamp here for the night, unable to find 
water for our animals ; even the quantity reserved for 
ourselves only sufficed to cook our coffee. 

From Anton Chico a man had followed us on foot, who 
now approached our camp-fires and begged permission to 
pass the night under our protection, being afraid of lighting 
a fire for himself alone in the wilderness. The night was 
very cold, and this fellow had scarcely sufficient clothing to 
cover himself. Objections were raised in our camp against 
admitting this stranger : he might be associated with some 
band of robbers, and engaged in plundering our caravan, or, 
at all events, he might run off in the night with one of our 
animals. In order, therefore, to afford protection to this 
man, and guard at the same time our own safety, we 
required that he should let himself be tied to a waggon- 
wheel for the night : to this he assented. Our Mexicans 
brought a cord, and, with all kinds of good humoured ban- 
tering, they tied their countryman fast. The prisoner was 
of course allowed all sufficient comforts for his night's rest. 
They prepared him a warm bed close to the wheel, brought 
him tortillas, frijoles, and coffee, wrapped him in a blanket, 
and then left him till the morning, when he was released. 

Whatever the man may have thought of this hospitalitv, 
he did not show himself again the following day, and our 
generosity was not appealed^ to a second time. We halted 
the next night on a prairie, with juniper-trees growing here 
and there. As I was standing in the moonlight guarding 



298 CANON DEL TOEO. Book II. 

the herd and leaning on my gun, a shot suddenly fell in 
the camp, and I heard the cry of " Thief ! thief!" A 
pursuit was at once made in the surrounding underwood, 
and several shots were fired ; but neither the report of the 
guns nor the pursuit was successful. A pair of boots had 
been stolen from the bedside of one of our drivers, which 
in the morning were found not far off in the grass. All 
were of opinion that the thief had been no other than our 
guest of the preceding night. I cannot decide whether 
gratitude for the hospitality shown him had urged him, or 
whether he followed us, as our people said,, from Chico to 
this place — seventy to eighty miles through the wilderness 
— with the design of stealing the boots. 

The Canon Blanco contracts westward to a narrower 
defile, called the Canon del Toro, through which the road 
runs to Galisteo and Albuquerque. Here we turned south- 
ward on to a plateau of easy ascent : at the top all tree 
vegetation suddenly vanished. From a level prairie the 
view extended down upon the wooded valleys of the Pecos 
and into a deep country encompassed with red sandstone 
rocks, and belonging to the Kio Grande, whilst at a 
distance, behind the neighbourhood of Santa Fe, rose the 
snow-capped peaks of the mountains of Mora and Taos. 

We rested for the night near a small lake, with pretty 
good water. The air was so cold, that in the morning my 
blanket was covered with hoar-frost and my beard was 
frozen. 

The plateau between the Pecos and the Kio Grande, 
which we now traversed, is bordered on the west, along the 
Rio Grande, by a line of isolated mountain groups of 
interesting Alpine forms, between which defiles lead down 
into the valley. They are the Placer Mountains, Sandilla 
Mountains, Manzana Mountains, and other groups whose 



Chap. VII. PLATEAU OF MANZANAS. 299 

names I did not learn. These groups are surrounded at 
their base with woods of juniper- trees. At distances the 
rocks rise out of the plain, like steep cliffs out of the sea. 
On the other side rugged declivities descend into deeper 
valleys, which I shall describe further on. 

Our journey across this plateau, which I may call the 
Plateau of Manzanas, took a southerly direction slightly 
deviating to the west. For some distance we proceeded 
along the above-mentioned groups of mountains, until we 
at last turned down into the valley of the Rio Grande, 
through the Pass of Cuarra. From the Canon Blanco we 
had pursued an untrodden route across the prairie, with 
scarcely any waggon-track until we came to a road which, 
leaving Chilili, Manzanas, and other small places at the 
foot of the mountains on the right, leads from Galisteo to 
Cuarra, and, under the Spanish rule, probably led further 
south to the mysterious Gran Quivira. Those places 
appeared situated in a pleasant and sheltered position, 
between the wooded spurs of the mountains, and on clear 
brooks, which, however, soon disappear in the prairie. 
The latter is highest in the north, on the Canon Blanco ; 
it declines to the south, and the road then passes from the 
Jura formation to the new red sandstone. Loose sand 
appears, covered here and there with saline efflorescence, 
and grey Chenopodiacese, together with succulent kali 
plants, succeed in patches. 

The road led past a deep round hole in the sandy 
clay, which was filled with a muddy brackish and stinking 
water. Further on we came to the Ojo de Verendo — the 
"Spring of the Antelopes " — a source of clear and whole- 
some water, rising at the foot, of a limestone bank that covers 
the sand : it collects into a little basin at the side. This 
stratum of limestone extends from the base of the Manzana 



300 LANDSCAPE SCENERY. Book II. 

Mountain to this spot, where it terminates. A little further 
south we found a similar spring, with a basin just like the 
former : here we rested, and I bagged a dish of snipes for 
our table ; but in vain endeavoured to secure a large ibis- 
like bird which kept alighting here and there on the edge 
of this little lake. This bird was white, with black wings 
and a long curved beak : it had the flight and cry of the 
curlew. 

To the east of our road we saw, stretching in the dis- 
tance, a sandy acclivity, which, heightened by refraction, 
presented striking pictures of high rocky walls. A salt 
lake lies in this direction, probably at the foot of this ascent, 
into which, at certain times, flow the waters of the brooks of 
Chilili, Manzanas, and Cuarra. Toward evening, when the 
effects of the refraction had disappeared, the effects of sunset 
gave a magic charm even to this desert. Under the crimson 
sky towards the east, the heights of the above-mentioned 
acclivity were grouped in picturesque forms, and hues 
of red, lilac, and blue cast over them ; nearer the fore- 
ground, brown, green and yellow stripes intermingled in 
the plain ; whilst in the immediate neighbourhood, the 
prairie, with dark yucca-bushes scattered here and there, 
presented the appearance of a carpet with a graceful 
pattern. 

We rode through the Manzanas river, over glittering 
masses of micaceous slate ; and, judging by the detached 
blocks and the width of its bed, now almost dry, it must at 
times have a large mass of water. The road soon after led 
into an ascending valley between sandstone mountains, 
which, projecting eastwards, rise above the level plain. The 
mountains appeared to form a jagged part of the summit of 
the plateau itself. A few large-leaved poplars were growing 
by the side of a clear brook, descending into the valley with 



Chap. YII. RUINS OF CUARRA. 301 

a steep fall. Then succeeded fields of maize, in which the 
people were busied with the harvest ; and suddenly there 
stood before me some old and high walls of brown sand- 
stone, in the middle of a valley, between high poplars 
and pines, with a wooded mountain in the background. 
These were the ruins of Cuarra, which have without doubt 
a Christian origin, although, like many others in New 
Mexico, they have been attributed to the Indians. They 
consist of the walls of a church, built of sandstone without 
mortar. The builders were doubtless Indians, but the archi- 
tect, some missionary, must have had a Byzantine type in 
his mind when designing the building. The ruin has but 
little historic interest. Very probably the church, together 
with the other buildings of a flourishing mission, the walls 
of which still exist, was destroyed in the great rising of the 
Indians, when the Spaniards, after their first settlement in 
New Mexico, were driven out of the country, and had to 
conquer it a second time. At no great distance from 
Cuarra are the ruins of Avd ; said to be still larger than 
those of Cuarra, and doubtless connected with the same 
history. 

The site of Cuarra is remarkable : we seem transplanted 
into a mountainous corner of Germany, with the rains of 
some old robber-castle ; until, on closer examination, we 
are reminded of being in the land of the Cactus and of the 
Indians, and that the building was no castle, but a church. 
Cuarra has the rank of an Indian pueblo, but the number 
of the inhabitants is limited to a few families, who have 
used the old ruins as their dwelling. The pueblo erected 
on the ruins, after the destruction of the mission, has evi- 
dently never had many inhabitants, otherwise there must 
have been remains of a second period. The present tenants 
cultivate a few fields of maize and gourds, and keep a few 



302 



LANDSCAPE SCENERY. 



Book II. 



domestic animals. I had great difficulty in procuring half 
a dozen eggs. 

From this point the road runs through a wooded valley, 
between high mountains of sandstone which in the distance 
are surmounted by still loftier heights of limestone, while 
a base of deeper limestone is underlying them. At the 
entrance of this valley the landscape is completely changed. 
In parts, we passed through a forest of lofty pines; in 
others, through a scattered wood of pines and juniper-trees. 
The latter has often a very picturesque growth. Like 
other species of the Juniperus and certain Taxodiw, the 
juniper of this region shows a remarkable variety of cha- 
racter in its form and growth, according to age and habitat. 
The cypress remains, however, the fundamental type of its 
physiogonomy. But the reader must not think of the 
stiff-twisted forms of the Juniperus Virginiana, which 
disfigure so many a landscape in the United States. Red 
sandstone rocks rise above this wood, in part presenting the 
appearance of w 7 alls with battlements and loopholes. In 
riding for a whole day uninterruptedly, down a' steep 
road, we were able to form an idea of the great height 
of this plateau, at its highest point little under 7000 feet. 1 
Upon a kind of side terrace of the declivity, where the 
sandstone rests upon the limestone, we came to the sources 
of a saltish and alkaline brook, running for some distance 
through the grass, from one hole to another, until it falls 
westwards into a deep and narrow cleft, and through the 
latter finds its way down into the valley of the Eio Grande. 
The limestone rocks of this gorge show in several places the 
entrances to caverns. The brook itself is called " Salado " 



1 There no doubt exist measurements 
of the altitude of Manzanas and Cuarra, 
as some officers of the United States 
liavo made surveys of this part of the 



country. They are, however, unknown 
to mo. The Eio Grande, in this section, 
is 4800 feet above the lovel of the sea. 



Chap. VII. 



LARKS, MAGPIES, AND DAISIES. 



303 



(the Saltish), designating the quality of its waters. Whilst 
roaming about near our camp, I was surprised by the 
chattering of a magpie in a tree : the bird was marked just 
like the European magpie, but was rather smaller. It is 
interesting how a trifle of this kind may affect the traveller, 
and transport him back to his distant home. I also met with 
a lark, whose notes somewhat reminded me of the European 
skylark. A bird's note gives indications of its genus and 
family, whichremain the same in remote countries, so that the 
bird can be recognised by a careful observer at a distance. 1 
The same must be said of the flight of birds, but in a less 
remarkable degree. I was here also surprised by the 
appearance of a little flower, which properly belongs to the 
lark and magpie, — a pretty Pellis, quite like the Pellis 
perennis, — the German daisy. The white little flowers 
had the same red colour beneath, and were also tipped with 
crimson. Here too I saw for the first time a beautiful 
woodpecker, probably Picus hadioides, which I afterwards 
often met with in the valley of the Rio Grande. 

Two roads lead hence into the valley of the Rio Grande, 
one leaving the defile of the Salado on the left, the other 
on the right. The defile itself seems to be impassable for 
man and beast. We chose the latter road, which led us 
straight towards a limestone mountain, in a pass of which 
we halted for the night, and through which we descended 
into the valley the following day, on a rough and rocky 
road, not without danger to our waggons. The limestone 
of this small group belongs probably to the cretaceous 
formation which, according to Marcou's observations, 
occupies here a narrow strip on the Rio Grande. 



1 A celebrated naturalist and ethno- 
logist remarked to me justly, that this 
fact gave a warning not to draw from 



the affinity of languages too general 
conclusions for the unity of the human 



304 STEEP ALLUVIAL TERRACES. Book II. 

On the evening of October 16th we reached the western 
foot of the mountain. We had reached the Mora on the 
3rd, and had thus travelled for thirteen days along, as it 
were, the edge of the plateau, which in the east borders the 
valley of the Rio Grande, having at the same time touched 
the e treme eastern settlements of New Mexico. 

We had however not yet reached the actual soil of the 
lower valley, but only one of those inclined plains of debris 
which descend, in all the wider parts of the valley of the 
Rio Grande, from the foot of the mountains, or the adjacent 
steppes, close to the river, and which here break off, with 
a steep edge, jagged by small hollows and fissures. The 
soil of these steep lateral terraces, consists of large alluvial 
strata of sand, clay, and detached masses of rock. This 
region is quite destitute of water, excepting what falls at 
rare intervals, and only during three months of the 
year ; it bears a vegetation, composed of some species of 
grass, mostly in isolated spots, shrub-like Artemisia? and 
Chenopodiaceas, Algarobbice, Larrea bushes, the long green 
but mostly leafless thorns of the Fouquiera, and other 
thorn-bushes with or without leaves, various Opuntice and 
HJchinocactce, as well as several species of Jucca both 
dwarf and tall. This region is incapable of cultivation, 
which is limited in the valley to the bottom lands along 
the river, as far as they can be watered. The lateral 
terraces occupy the greater part of the valley, so that 
the cultivation is restricted to a narrow strip, and even 
this is interrupted in the narrows of the valley. The 
bottom along the river is therefore the only part of the 
valley of the Rio Grande where trees are found. A 
kind of poplar, low and broad, is seen in groups and 
in small woods, and some willows grow on the edge of 
the river. The valley, otherwise, from one mountain- 



Chap. VII. VOLCANIC HILLS IN THE VALLEY. 305 

top to another is treeless, and like a large basin in the 
desert. 

Of this general character I formed a clear idea in 
ascending a small isolated mountain, of volcanic origin, 
rising out of the alluvial masses of the eastern side- 
terrace. The lower masses of the rock consist of a 
dense, grey, trachytic lava; the upper, of a lava of 
darker colour and more basaltic or doleritic nature, be- 
coming more and more porous and spongy towards the 
summit, till, on the top, it appears in black lumps thrown 
one over another, perforated, eaten into, jagged, crooked, 
and forced up, like a scoria not completely vitrified. The 
rock contains, from top to bottom, numerous concretions 
of a milk- coloured chalcedony, sometimes hyalitic, small 
pieces of which lay strewn about everywhere. The view 
from the summit of this isolated mountain is grand, and 
most peculiar. Wherever the eye stretches to the edge 
of the wide prairie valley it sees in the distance some 
detached mountain-group, its bare and rugged sides de- 
scending to the valley, and from whose base the slanting 
plain of debris, clothed in a naked and monotonous grey- 
brown, descends in long lines to the river, which is indi- 
cated only by some distant poplars. 

I saw upon this summit the first shrub of the Larrea 
Mexicana, which, further south, forms such an important 
feature in the vegetation of the steppes, from the plateaus 
of Texas down to the lower Gila, and which in the 
valley of the Rio Grande likewise begins to predominate, 
only farther south. It is remarkable, in approaching the 
extensive province of certain plants, to see them first 
appear upon the summits of isolated mountains, and espe- 
cially when, as here, the district of this vegetation lies 
further south. This remark applies also to the Opuntia 

x 



306 LA JOYITA. Book II. 

arborescenSy of which I found the first small tree on the 
top of Round Mount. 

We reached the river near some houses, called, I believe, 
Nutrias, and first saw here again for a long time a large 
stream. Our thirsty animals were watered, and all the 
men who could get the time hastened down to bathe. The 
quicksand-banks of the river were covered with thousands 
of wild geese, ducks, and cranes, but they did not come 
within shot. The next day we passed a beautifully situ- 
ated place called " La Joy a," and halted near "La Joy- 
ita," a little lower down, where we encamped for the 
night. 



Chap. VIII. VALLEY OF THE RIO GRANDE. 307 



CHAPTEK VIII 

Valley of the Rio Grande — Irrigation Canals — Encampment near La Joyita — 
Visit of the Apaches — Indian Hieroglyphics — Angitic Lava over the allu- 
vial Masses of the Valley — The River breaks through a Bar of Lava — 
Water-fowl, and ill Success in hunting — Hills of Drift Sand — Excesses 
of our Waggoners — A view of Socorro — Valley of Valverde — Basalt 
— Bushes of the Mezquite — Rattlesnakes — Tarantulas — Quails — The 
Paisano — San Cristdval — Desert of the Dead — Geological Remarks, 
and Landscape Scenery — A Vegetable Monster — Donana — Sierra de los 
Organos — Fruit — Fletcher's Rancho — A Memento Mori — Deserters from 
Fort Fillmore — Grounds of Discontent — Narrows of the Rio Grande near 
El Paso — Franklin and Macgornnville. 

The numerous and extensive canals for irrigation — acequias 
— give to the valley of the Rio Grande a peculiar character 
in reference to its cultivation, and produce a pleasing im- 
pression on the traveller coining from the Steppe. This 
valley is by nature a long and narrow strip of oasis, in a desert 
extending on both sides for thousands of square miles ; or 
rather, it is a chain of basin-like oases, separated by rocky 
passes and barren defiles. The river annually overflows 
the valley more or less, but, from the great deficiency 
of rain and the want of springs and brooks to water the 
land, the moisture left behind by the inundation would not 
suffice. It is true that from out of the high and rocky 
mountains, with which the edge of the plateau is bordered 
on both sides of the valley in isolated groups, defiles and 
ravines extend down, whose rugged appearance and de- 
tached rocks show that at times they form the beds of 
mountain torrents ; but these beds are perfectly dry, 
except when, as is rarely the case, violent torrents of rain 
fall in the mountains : these temporary streams run in- 

x 2 



308 IRRIGATION CANALS. Book II. 

stantly into the river, and, instead of fertilizing the adjacent 
valley, only spread devastation over it. As soon as the 
time of high-water is past, the river falls much below the 
level of the valley, and the banks appear like perpendicular 
declivities of sand or clay. In this point, as well as in the 
muddy colour of its waters, the Rio Grande resembles the 
Missouri, Arkansas, Ohio, Lower Mississippi, California!! 
Colorado, and many other rivers of North America. On 
the Rio Grande, likewise, the banks — undermined by the 
stream — fall in from time to time ; the poplars and willows 
bordering them fall into the river : whilst on the opposite 
side new banks are formed, and covered with young wood. 
Here and there the stream forces for itself a new channel, 
and the old one remains a stagnant water among the poplar 
groves of the valley. Owing to the steep banks, the river 
is often inaccessible for many miles ; so that a caravan may 
suffer from want of water for its animals, in the immediate 
vicinity of the river. If the beasts suffer greatly from 
thirst, there is a danger of their discovering some access to 
the water, getting down into the river, and being unable to 
get out again. If possible, therefore, the caravan encamps 
near some irrigation canal, as we did at Joyita. 

Much as the valley of the Rio Grande has suffered from 
the continual irruptions of the wild Indians, especially the 
Apaches, it is not uncommon to see two or three irrigation 
canals, each capable of driving a mill, running through the 
valley for miles, at different levels, in order to convey the 
water to fields further distant from the river and lying 
higher. This system of agriculture is foreign to the inhabi- 
tants of the United States, and opposed to their spirit of 
personal independence ; as a system of irrigation on a 
larger scale presupposes express legislative interference, 
and a restriction of the free disposal of his land by each 



Chap. VIII. 



VISIT OF THE APACHES. 



309 



individual. In Texas, where the Mexicans have followed 
the same system of agriculture — in the vicinity of San 
Antonio for instance — are seen the ancient acequias of the 
times of the Spaniards, gone to ruin and decay. The 
farmers who have immigrated from the United States — 
from feelings of blind contempt for the Mexicans, and the 
accidental occurrence of a series of comparatively rainy 
years — have allowed these canals to fall to ruin ; they have, 
however, had to suffer severely for this neglect, in the sub- 
sequent years of drought. In New Mexico nature is too 
capricious, and immigration too inconsiderable, to cause 
any fear of the entire abandonment of the well-founded old 
system, which is in all probability of Indian origin. 

In our camp at Joyita I first saw face to face some 
Indians of the dreaded Apache nation. Whilst taking our 
noonday meal, two Indians came riding up, who dis- 
mounted, shook hands with us, and invited themselves 
with great naivete to partake of our repast. Th w ere 
clothed in leather, and armed with good guns, which they 
laid aside: They told us they belonged to the tribe of the 
Mescaleros, 1 and one of them pretended to be a chieftain, — - 
an assertion however which the fellow's bad manners proved 
to be false. In general, the Indian chieftains observe a 
dignified demeanour, and marked etiquette. The physi- 
ognomy of these two men, who after a short time were 
joined by a woman, nearly approached the common Chinese 
type, chiefly in the broad flat nose ; but there are also seen 
among this people very various physiognomies, and I after- 
wards saw several sharply cut profiles of noble proportions. 



1 Mescal is a kind of agave, of which 
the roots are eaten. The Californian 
Indians have treated me with a sweet 
agave-root, which, I believe, comes 
from the so-called wild species of mes- 



cal. Mescal is also the name of a kind of 
brandy prepared from the agave. The 
Apache tribe takes its name from the 
plant. The root is an essential article 
of food amongst many Indian races. 



310 THE APACHE LANGUAGE. Book II. 

As they have children by great numbers of stolen Mexican 
women, and as boy prisoners are continually adopted by 
the tribe, it grows more and more difficult to distinguish 
the original form of the face and colour of the skin. 

I wished to avail myself of this opportunity to collect a 
few words of the Apache language, but I had great diffi- 
culty in attaining my object, even to a very limited extent. 
My questions at first displeased them, and I received 
no answers : I then bethought me of a ruse, which was 
successful. I declared that I knew the Apache language, 
and uttered the Comanche words which I had on a former 
occasion noted down. The hatred of the Apaches for the 
Comanches aroused such indignation among our guests, 
that, to prove the superiority of their language to that 
of the Comanches, they told me a number of words. 

I' learned from these people that not all the Apache 
tribes speak the same language: for instance, that of the 
Coppermine Apaches and Gila Apaches differs widely from 
theirs, and is not understood by them. 

In the evening our guests took their leave. That night 
I slept at the edge of our camp, which was on a level plain 
near the village ; and near me lay our cook. On a sudden 
we were aroused by the sound of horses' hoofs, and the 
fierce barking of our dog. Scarcely five paces distant we 
saw two mounted Indians. In an instant my gun was 
levelled at one, and the cook, snatching up one of my 
pistols, aimed at the other, whilst the dog seized one of the 
horses by the throat. " No tira, compadre ! " (don't fire, 
comrade!) exclaimed one of the men. " Don't you know 
your friends, the Apaches, who are come again to drink 
coffee with you ?" An explanation followed, in which we 
made them understand that we could not receive their visit 
at night, and that they must go away; but that they would 



Chap. VIII. AUGITIC LAVA. 311 

be very welcome to join our early breakfast. They re- 
luctantly yielded, but not without lively protestations ; and 
when some way off, one shouted to me, "Hark-ye, comrade ! 
the Apaches are good — the Apaches are your friends — but 
yonder dwell rogues !" meaning the people of the neighbour- 
ing village, the name of which,, La Joyita, signifies "the little 
jewel." The next morning we waited in vain for our guests 
at breakfast, and afterwards saw them riding with eight or 
ten others over a neighbouring hill. The object of their 
nocturnal visit had doubtless been to test our vigilance ; 
and as our complete guard was about half a mile off, with 
the drove of mules, disagreeable occurrences might have 
happened at the camp. 

Below La Joyita the valley narrows, and the river 
forces its way through a cleft intersecting an elevated plain 
which crosses the former. On its western side rise high 
and steep mountains, with columnar formations, probably 
consisting of masses, of porphyry. There is a hot spring 
somewhere among these mountains. The flat barrier 
which crosses the valley consists of an augitic lava, through 
which the Bio Grande has made its way ; the remaining 
portions are seen on either bank of the river. The road 
passes over these lava hills, on the east side of the valley, 
and is very heavy from the quicksands which here and 
there cover the rocks. Whilst the caravan was toiling 
along this road, I followed the cutting which the river 
had made, and climbed about the rocks on the hill-side. 
In one place, where the unfrequented footpath led from 
the valley to the hill-top, I observed blocks of stone with 
figures cut on them. In the course of my narrative I 
shall have to speak of many similar sculptures, and shall 
therefore reserve for the present some general remarks on 
this subject. 



312 



AUGITIC LAVA. 



Book II. 



Near this spot the stratum of augitic lava appears in a 
highly interesting manner above the alluvial masses. The 
superposition resembles that of the Californian table-moun- 
tain, famed for its auriferous alluvial substratum. 




Further on, the Rio Grande winds through beautiful 
meadows, dotted here and there with groups of poplars ; 
while the banks of the river are covered with the same 
trees. At the commencement of this opening of the 
valley I came to an old branch of the river, covered with 
thousands of various kinds of geese and ducks, whilst large 
flocks of cranes lined the shores. With the aid of some 
bushes, I crept along till I came within gun-shot. On my 
discharging both barrels into the midst of these flocks of 
birds, a cloud of water-fowl rose on the wing ; the flapping 
of wings and the screams filled the air. In the water geese 
and ducks were fluttering about, which I had wounded but 
not killed, and, on my approaching them, they had still 
strength left to escape. I waded into the water up to the 
waist, with a pistol in my hand, but only succeeded in 
capturing a single duck, which I secured by a pistol- 
shot. 



Chap. VIII. EXCESSES OF OUK WAGGONERS. 313 

In this excursion from our caravan, I came to high and 
extensive quicksand hills covering the augitic rock. Their 
shape was exactly that of the snowdrifts met with on the 
summits of the Alps ; and, indeed, these formations in the 
landscape reminded me vividly of the Alpine scenery. I 
had wandered miles away from my companions, when 
I recollected the peril of my position. I loaded my gun 
with buck-shot, and set out to find the nearest way to 
rejoin the caravan. 

Our next night-encampment was below Sabino. Some 
of our people begged to be allowed to return to the village, 
and join in a dance. On this occasion a North American 
so excited the jealousy of a native peasant, that he was 
surrounded, and a general attack was made upon him. 
At this he drew a small pistol from his pocket, and, like 
Don Juan, fired into the crowd of people in the room ; 
fortunately, however, the affair turned out quite as harm- 
less as in the opera — no one was hurt, and the culprit 
was unheeded. I have before observed that the Mexicans 
living on the borders suffer much from the insolence and 
violence of the North Americans. The next night one of 
our North American drivers found one of our Mexican 
muleteers asleep at his post, and, to arouse him, he gave 
him a blow which laid open his head with a wound about 
two inches long ; it nearly killed him, and the driver 
openly boasted that this had been his intention. 

The road down the valley lay sometimes along the 
bottom, and sometimes over the hills forming the lowest 
lateral terrace. In a geological point of view, the latter 
are in part merely the separated portions of the alluvial 
masses adjacent to the mountains, or they consist of flats 
and bars of basaltic or augitic streams of lava, which have 
filled a part of the valley, as at Joyita. Such a bar, forming, 



314 VIEW OF SOCORKO. Book II. 

near Fort Conrad and Valverde, a semicircular and per- 
pendicular precipice toward the bottom of the valley, con- 
sists of a basaltic rock, partly dense and partly porous, 
with numerous grains of Olivin, and a white chalky filling 
or coating of many of the cavities — -a substance which I 
have not been able to subject to further examination. 
Upon the surface of the masses of lava spread over the 
alluvial soil of the valley, more recent alluvial deposits of 
pebbles, gravel, and sand have been deposited. 

The bottom land at the foot of this hill has a vigorous 
vegetation of tall grasses and various shrubs, between 
scattered poplars. The soil is highly fit for cultivation. 
One of the most beautiful sections in this neighbourhood 
is the Valverde bottom, where a small town of the same 
name formerly stood. Were it not, like the rest of the 
valley, exposed to the attacks of the Indians, this would 
be one of the most eligible spots for a settlement that I 
have seen in the course of my American wanderings. At 
the time of our passing, only one North American resided 
there, with a few Mexican servants. The land did not 
belong to him, but he had taken possession of it. 

One of the many interesting scenes of landscape which 
the valley of the Kio Grande presents to the traveller, is the 
view from the hills below Parida, on to the opposite side of 
the valley, with the town of Socorro lying at the foot of high 
mountains. The road on the hill runs close to the edge of a 
steep precipice, at the foot of which the Rio Grande — its bed 
half filled up with grey sandbanks — winds between poplars 
and willows, through extensive meadows. On the limit of 
the latter, indicated in the distance by the sharp line of an 
irrigation canal, lies the town, with its flat roofs ; and behind 
it rises the mountain — bare of trees from the base to the 
summit — in terraces, one above another, and supported 



Chap. VIII. 



BUSHES OF THE MEZQUITE. 



315 



by columnar rocks. As in all the mountains which enclose 
the Rio Grande, detached bushes of Mezquite, Larrea, and 
various kinds of Artemisia?, with an occasional Yucca or 
Cactus, compose the characteristic vegetation of the fore- 
ground of this landscape. Where sandy alluvial masses 
form the soil, the mezquite 1 is quite the predominant 
plant. I do not know whether all the mezquite bushes or 
trees, from Texas to California^ are included by botanists 
in the single species Algarobbia glandulosa. If so, this 
mimosa-like plant is a perfect vegetable Proteus. In new 
Mexico it is a shrub, with branches and twigs spreading 
out upon the ground, and springing directly from the roots : 
in Texas, the plant is represented by a small tree : on the 
Gila and Colorado, it is a tree of considerable size, regular 
growth, and grouped into small woods and groves. In 
comparing these varieties, their appearance is so different 
that an unscientific man may well imagine that he has 
presented to him various species of the same genus. The 
Mexicans distinguish two kinds : the pods of one are 
edible, those of the other are not considered so. I shall 
have occasion to mention this shrub or tree hereafter, 
and will then complete what I have to say respecting it. 
On the middle section of the Rio Grande, the mez- 
quite bush generally grows upon little hillocks of loose 
sand, which are drifted around them by the wind. The 
plant here evidently prefers such a soil ; for where the 
ground is firm and strong, the Larrea Mexicana takes its 
place. The mezquite bushes and their sand-hills are a 
favourite resort of rattlesnakes and tarantulas. In some 



1 The North Americans, who muti- 
late every Spanish and Mexican name, 
have converted Mezquite into Musquito ; 
and from Texas to California, in books 
and newspapers, are seen the words 
" Musquito - tree," " Musquito - shrub," 



"Musquito -grass," and so on. The 
word has no connection with musquito 
or gnat, but is an Aztec word : — Mez- 
quitl. The grass takes its name from 
the shrub, as in Texas it grows in the 
same districts. 



316 KATTLESNAKES — THE PAISANO. Book II. 

parts of New Mexico, rattlesnakes are met with at every 
few hundred paces, and in our journey I have sometimes 
killed five or six in a few hours, lying in our very path. 
The danger here is, however, small, and far less than in 
the grass of the prairie. In New Mexico the ground 
between the single bushes is generally barren, so that in 
the daytime it is not easy to tread upon a snake una- 
wares. In going out. to hunt the beautiful Californian 
quails, with the curved tuft of feathers on their heads, it 
is necessary to be more cautious, when the sportsman is 
often obliged to force his way into the thorny mezquite 
bush. The flesh of this elegant little bird is excellent ; it 
is continually met with on the Gila and Colorado. The 
earth-cuckoo (Geococcyx viatieus) is also peculiar to this 
and similar localities. I often saw it running about, and 
later I shot several in other parts of the country. They 
run so swiftly that, on ground overgrown with underwood, 
it is very difficult to get them. The Mexicans call this 
bird Paisano (peasant), a corruption of Faesano (phea- 
sant). It much resembles a pheasant, especially in its 
long tail and great speed in running, but is much smaller. 
In Texas and California it is known by the name of 
" Correcamino " (road-runner). I have been repeatedly 
told that it lives chiefly on rattlesnakes. 

Leaving the Yalverde bottom behind us, and Fort 
Conrad, which is situated in this vicinity, to our side, we 
reached a spot known by the name of San Cristdval. 
This place was probably once inhabited. It is a small 
section of the valley, enclosed on the east and south by the 
acclivity of a basaltic plateau. The river runs in a westerly 
direction through a series of narrows between this plateau 
and the mountains rising above it ; and pursues its course, 
for about a hundred miles, through a rocky defile, which is 



Chap. VIII. THE DESERT OF THE DEAD. 317 

quite impassable for waggons, and scarcely capable of culti- 
vation. The road, therefore, ascends, in a southerly direction, 
over the basaltic terrace, and continues along a plateau co- 
vered with prairie, between distant mountain-chains, east and 
west, for about ninety miles. This eastern lateral terrace of 
the Rio Grande, which on a mean average is about seven or 
eight hundred feet higher than the bed of the river (which 
falls in this part of its course nearly four hundred feet), is 
known by the name of " The Dead Mans Journey " (Jor- 
nada del Muerto). It has, however, a worse reputation 
than it deserves, for these ninety miles are seldom entirely 
wanting in water ; and even were this the case, there is 
nothing very formidable in it for a traveller journeying with 
baggage-waggons from Texas to California. With mules, 
the entire distance may be travelled without water ; there 
is excellent grass the whole way, and the road for the most 
part very good. 

This certainly was not the case at the outset. The 
ascent was covered with deep sand, from which rose basaltic 
cliffs, and in parts the road passed over a rough ground of 
rocks. We at length reached the plain on the terrace : 
about half our waggons had arrived on the summit, when a 
storm came on, and we were drenched to the skin. In this 
plight we had to work until late at night, doubling our 
teams, to bring up the remainder of our waggons. There 
was no fodder for the mules above, and we were obliged 
to drive them down again into the valley, where they were 
placed under guard for the night. The next day our 
journey was neither arduous nor disagreeable. The grass 
on the plain was already somewhat withered, from the 
advanced season ; but by the roadside were many beautiful 
autumnal flowers ; and we saw here, for the first time, a 
tree-like species of Yucca, which, together with the grey 



318 GEOLOGICAL REMAEKS. Book IT. 

rocks of the mountains, gave the scene an entirely new 
and striking character. Stags, hares, rabbits, and flocks 
of cranes, enlivened this wilderness, over which we pur- 
sued our way undisturbed for thirty miles, until we reached 
the lagoon, where we encamped for the night. 

This, as well as a smaller lagoon, a few miles further 
south, contains water for about three months in the year, 
collected during the rains. Both have neither an inlet nor 
an outlet. Immense flocks of ducks covered their surface, 
whilst hundreds of gigantic grey cranes were stalking 
about in the long grass on the shores. These birds were 
very shy, and would not let us come within shot. In the 
night I heard the rushing sound of flocks of cranes, 
geese, and ducks, over our heads ; they flew in a westerly 
direction across the desert, toward the Rio Grande. 

We halted the next day, for our noontide rest, at the 
second lagoon. All around rose barren, steep, and gro- 
tesque mountains, in single groups or isolated chains, on 
the borders of the prairie. The terrace stretches between 
them to the north, south and west, down to the Rio Grande, 
while to the east a communication with the table-lands on 
the Pecos exists over the mountain-passes between the 
Sierra de los Jumanes, the Sierra del Caballo, and other 
mountain chains. The rain in the afternoon prevented our 
reaching the so-called Aleman, a place we had fixed upon 
for our night encampment, from the water found there. 
The night cleared up, and the next morning the ground 
was covered with hoar-frost. 

Pursuing our journey, we came to a range of hills, 
stretching directly across the plain. The soil was com- 
posed of red clay, with pebbles and fragments of lime- 
stone, ferruginous sandstone, flint, hornstone, carniola, 
jasper, quartz, and silicified wood. The Larrea Mexicana 



Chap. VIII. SIERRA DE LOS ORGANOS. 319 

forms the prevailing vegetation. Other tracts are covered 
with various kinds of shrubs, especially of the wormwood 
family (Artemisia), and a grey-leaved Chenopodiacea. 
Scattered between these shrubs grow tree-like Yuccas. 
As the traveller proceeds south their stems grow taller ; 
the plant assumes the appearance of a small palm-tree, 
and accordingly is called " Palmilla " by the Mexi- 
cans. The disproportionate thickness of the stem is pro- 
duced by the withered leaves clinging around it. Toward 
evening we reached a small group of low trachytic hills. 
The trachyte is bordered by limestone, which in appear- 
ance resembles that on the Ojo de Verendo. The trachyte 
exhibits some degree of stratification, and in some parts 
encloses fragments of hornblende, flint, with other kinds of 
rock, and thus forms a breccia. This spot is known to the 
American traders as the " Point of Rocks." The Mexi- 
cans call it " Peril! a." 

The mountains bounding the terrace of the Jornada to 
the west, consist of isolated groups. Those to the east, 
form a long unbroken chain divided in sections, becoming 
towards the south more lofty, precipitous, and indented. 
The next morning a snowy peak of the Sierra Blanca 
(White Mountains) was visible behind a depression of the 
nearer chain. On the south side of the terrace, where the 
road descends towards the Rio Grande, a circular group 
of dark rocky hills stands forth like an island in the plain, 
apparently the remains of an old volcano. Behind these, 
to the left, rose the sharp peaks of the Sierra de los 
Organos, the southern extremity of the above-named chain. 
The setting sun shed a marvellous beauty upon these 
mountains, the small group standing out in a dusky brown, 
with black shadows, while the prominent peaks of the 
more distant Sierra de los Organos were bathed in tender 



320 A VEGETABLE MONSTER. Book II. 

hues of lilac and violet, with deep blue shadows, so that 
they resembled a mass of solid lepidolite. 

We encamped for the night where the terrace begins to 
slope in a southerly direction. When we rose, at 3 a.m., the 
plain was white with hoar frost. On our way we set fire 
to the dry leaves of some yuccas, which burned with a high 
crackling flame, enclosing the whole stem, and affording us 
considerable warmth as we passed. By the time the sun 
had risen we had reached the valley. Our early march in 
the dark prevented my examining the afore-named isolated 
group of rocks, which, in a geological point of view, must 
be very interesting. If I was not deceived by the distance, 
volcanic, plutonic, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks 
are compressed into a small space here, and easily to be 
examined; the whole representing quite a small geological 
laboratory. 

By the river the scenery was equally interesting. A 
lofty, precipitous, rocky mountain, towered on the other 
side of the valley. Poplars grew on the plain, and the 
sandy hill by which we had descended was covered with 
tall yuccas and many varieties of shrubs ; while behind this, 
to the east, the distant peaks of the loftier mountains arose, 
looking surprisingly near. Here for the first time I saw 
the gigantic Echinocactus Wislizeni, a perfect vegetable 
monster. Let the reader imagine a barrel-shaped, deeply- 
ribbed, green mass, from three to four feet high, and from 
two to three feet thick, covered with bunches of thorns 
long and strong enough to inflict a deadly wound ; the 
centre ones of each bunch being curved, so as to form 
perfect hooks. The rock of the precipice along which the 
road passes is sandstone, exhibiting the influence of volcanic 
agencies. The mountain on the opposite side of the valley 
appears to be of the same formation. The fragments of 



Chap. VIII. FLETCHER'S RANCHO. 321 

the alluvial hills are of trapp, basalt, porphyry, trachyte, 
and almost every variety of quartz and chalcedony. 

We encamped for the night about a mile above Donana, 
a small village beautifully situated. The peaks of the 
Sierra de los Organos, although nearly half a day's journey 
distant, rose apparently so close behind the flat roofs of the 
houses, that they seemed to form a rocky wall immediately 
adjoining the village. 

This chain, which contains a productive silver mine, 
forms one of the most striking and interesting features of 
the scenery along the Rio Grande. It consists of a mass 
of lofty rocks whose vertical position has given it the name 
of the Organ Mountains. The central portion of the chain 
is, however, alone entitled to this name, as north and south 
of it the masses become broader and more compact. 

Fruit trees and the vine are much cultivated in this 
valley. At Donana, and afterwards at Las Cruzes, we 
bought excellent grapes, good apples, and tolerable pears. 
Wine, raisins, dried peaches and pears, form a considerable 
source of trade, and are exported from the valley of the 
Rio Grande to Chihuahua. The dried pears of El Paso 
are the best in the world. 

A large fortified house, named from its owner, Fletcher's 
Rancho, stands solitary on the road between Donana and 
Las Cruzes. An extensive estate belongs to it, but the 
owner pays more attention to trade than to agriculture, and 
the house is in fact a large store. The locality of this ma- 
gazine was, in all probability, chosen with reference to 
the smuggling trade with Mesilla. This large and pros- 
perous village lies on the other side of the Eio Grande, and 
at that period had not been sold by Mexico to the United 
States, an event which took place a few years later. But 
goods may be stored here in a lonely house with greater 

Y 



322 DESERTERS FROM FORT FILLMORE. Book II. 

safety than an estate can be cultivated, for the Apaches 
prefer exercising their marauding propensities upon flocks 
and shepherds to attacking a house. Here I received a 
very practical warning as to the need for caution upon the 
high road, through the most populous parts of New Mexico. 
I had remained at Fletcher's Rancho about half an hour 
after our caravan had started, and was riding after it, when 
I met two North Americans with whom I exchanged a 
few words. Some days afterwards, at El Paso, I learned 
that they had been murdered by some Indians, at no great 
distance from the spot where I had spoken to them. 

Fort Fillmore, which is merely a military station, had 
at this time a garrison of 200 infantry and 200 dragoons. 
We encamped two miles lower down the valley, where its 
breadth is very great, and where the river divides, enclosing 
an island of many square miles in extent, between its 
branches. A German soldier from the fort came to us here. 
He complained of bad treatment, but his jovial, well-fed 
appearance, and excellent clothing, formed a ludicrous 
contrast to his words. He carried a fine hunting-gun, and 
intended to improve his dinner by shooting a hare or a 
wild turkey, such game abounding in the valley. But 
his immediate purpose was to desert ; and I actually met 
him some time later on Mexican territory, whither be 
and several of his companions at Fillmore, all with good 
arms and excellent horses, had made their way. At 
Chihuahua the higher Mexican officers had beautiful 
American horses, which had all crossed the frontier in 
this manner, and been bought for a mere trifle. I ques- 
tioned this man as to the causes of his discontent, and 
learned that they arose from some arbitrary diminution of 
the extra pay allowed for field and building work, — a kind 
of labour occasionally required of the garrison of a fort. 



Chap. VIII. GROUNDS OF DISCONTENT. 323 

This extra pay should be 18 cents daily, and the portion 
curtailed went into the pockets of the commandant, the 
quartermaster, and other officers, who not only lived in 
luxury, but were able to save money. So said the soldier. 
But, if this be really true, we must doubly admire Uncle 
Sam's liberality, which is so great, that, after all such 
embezzlement, the soldier has still more than he can use. 
At all these forts the traveller can purchase superfluous 
rations and cloaks ; the latter often so little worn, that 
many a German burgher would be but too thankful to 
possess one. It is scarcely possible in Europe to form an 
idea of the luxurious equipment and maintenance of the 
army in the United States ; and, if this consideration were 
the principal one under a military point of view, the 
system would be admirable indeed. This liberality, how- 
ever, is of the same character as the wasteful expenditure 
of Congress in printing their public documents, from which 
no great literary fame can result. The United States 
government acts, in these respects, like a rich parvenu of 
insufficient education, who, by lavish expenditure, strives, 
though unsuccessfully, to gain the position of a gentleman. 
The cause of the frequent desertions from the frontier forts is 
simply this : — the officers turn with haughty pride from the 
common soldiers, and thus the beneficial influences over 
the men, which they could so easily exercise, are lost. In 
these frontier forts, — placed, as they mostly are, in un- 
peopled localities, — an enlightened intercourse between 
officer and man is of the utmost importance. Most of 
these desertions are caused by intolerable ennui. 

The valley below Fort Fillmore is uninhabited for a 
considerable distance. We bivouacked at a spot where the 
road runs close to the river. This place, which is called 
Los Alamitos, or The Poplar Trees, is one of the most 

y 2 



324 



NARROWS OF THE RIO GRANDE 



Book II. 



beautiful along the Rio Grande. We were in a grove 
of scattered old poplar trees, between which we could see 
the rugged forms of the Sierra de la Soledad rising above 
the valley. Our mules grazed here by the light of the 
moon, and, as usual, were well watched. But in spite of 
our care, one of them, in the morning, was found to have 
an arrow wound in his leg ; proving that an Indian must 
have crept very near us. 

In order to expedite arrangements at the custom-house 
on the Mexican frontier at El Paso, Mr. Mayer decided 
on riding on before our caravan, and I accompanied him. 
The distance was about twenty-five or thirty miles. There 
was nothing remarkable in the valley till we came to the 
spot where the river breaks through the narrow pass above 
El Paso ; but at this point the country becomes very inter- 
esting. The mountain chain on the east throws out a spur 
here, which is separated from the chief mass of the Soledad 
and the Organos by a deep saddle ; and this spur continues 
on the other side of the river in a northerly direction, 
though forming here only an isolated group. Between 
these higher mountains, the valley is filled with rocky and 
stony hills, through which the river has formed for itself a 
narrow bed. Sandstone rocks mark the entrance of this 
valley ; while lower down the substance of the hills 
may be called a granito-porphyry. Connected with these 
are metamorphic strata, which appear to have been origi- 
nally sandstone, in which shells are easily distinguished. 1 
At the base of the rapid stands a mill belonging to Mr. 
Hart, a North American officer engaged in the Mexican 
war, who, having married a Mexican lady of one of the first 



1 Mr. Bartlctt, in his ' Personal Nar- 
rative,' speaks of limestone. I have seen 
none. As my two journeys took place 



under circumstances which, precluded 
any delay for a scientific purpose, he 
may be right. 



Chap. VIII. NEAR EL PASO. 325 

families of the State of Chihuahua, erected this — in such a 
country — remarkably fine building, and provided it with 
good machinery. It needed considerable courage to choose 
such a home. The road over the adjacent hills is bad and 
unsafe. The drivers, even of the poorest bullock-carts, 
carry guns with their whips. The situation of the mill is 
wild and strange, marked by the most striking peculiarities 
of North Mexican nature. The mountains on each side 
the valley are rocky ridges, — bare, grey, and curiously 
formed. Alluvial terraces extend from their base into the 
valley, and, uniting with the rocks near the river, form a bar 
across the valley. The river rushes here with a strong 
current through the fallen rocks. A few old poplars, the 
only trees in the whole region, grow on its banks. But 
notwithstanding this absence of anything like masses of 
verdure, we find among these rocks and fragments a most 
varied, interesting, and beautiful flora. Among an almost 
infinite variety of low shrubs (as I have already described 
in the upper portion of the valley) rise clusters of the long 
green shoots of the Fouquiera. A tall yucca, with its broad 
sword-shaped leaves and naked stem, throws up its palm- 
shaped crown ; while here and there is seen the monstrous 
mass of a giant echinocactus. The creeping opuntia spreads 
over the stony ground, and small echinocacti peep up 
between rank mammillarias. Then a small agave, in 
bunches not larger than a lettuce, and called by the 
Mexicans Lechuguilla, or Wild Salad, covers the ground 
like grass. All these, stiff, bristling, and thorny, harmonize 
curiously with the stony soil and bare rugged mountains. 
But in the spring, when the Mezquite bushes are clothed 
with the delicate green of their fresh feathery foliage 
and brush-like yellow flowers ; when the gigantic blossom- 
shoot of the yucca is crowned with its hundreds of white 



326 EL PASO. Book II. 

bells, fair as the lily of the valley, though as large as a 
tulip ; when the shoots of the fouquiera are adorned with 
scarlet panicles, and on the ground the large fiery-red 
blossoms of the mammillaria dazzle the eye ; when a dark 
blue sky, brilliant and clear as no dweller in the north can 
possibly imagine, expands over the landscape, while the 
air fills the whole frame with the most exquisite sensations 
of health and strength, and power for exertion, — then 
must we render justice to the beauty of this remarkable 
country. 

Such are the general characteristics of the scenery 
through which my long journeys will take me ; and there- 
fore, to avoid repetition, I shall henceforth only refer to the 
more peculiar features of each district. The Mexicans give 
the name of " chaparral "to a kind of shrubbery growing 
freely throughout the greater part of northern Mexico. 
The word originally indicated a thicket of holm-oaks, from 
chaparra, a holm-oak. It has, however, received a more 
general meaning, though not to the extent in which it is 
used by the North Americans, who call every thicket of 
shrubs in Mexico, and in the former Mexican countries 
now belonging to the United States, " chaparral." That 
the word is corrupted in this process of adoption is a matter 
of course. 1 

We reached El Paso by noon. The town lies on the 
west bank of the river, which we forded on horseback. In 
the evening, however, we returned to the east side, where 
Franklin and — about two miles lower down the valley — 
Macgoffinville are situated, both belonging to Texas. These 
are rising towns, but as yet contain only a few houses. Near 
Franklin are the mud buildings of a former fort of the 



1 Even Mr. Bartlctt always spells it " cLapporal.' 



Chap. VIII. MACGOFFINVILLE. 327 

United States, Fort Franklin, which has been superseded by 
Fort Bliss, near Macgoffinville. We passed the night in this 
last town, in an inn kept by a German. The man had more 
than half forgotten his own language, as also what English 
he had learned in the United States ; French, which he 
had once spoken well, had also entirely faded from his 
memory ; and of Spanish he had learned only a few 
imperfect phrases : so that literally he was almost devoid 
of language. There was a billiard-table in the house, and 
all needful accommodation for brandy-drinkers. In other 
respects his resources were very limited, and, but for the 
life we had led, we should have thought them wretched. 
Coffee with milk and well-baked bread were, however, 
great delicacies, and I slept — once again in a bed — so 
soundly, and awoke so refreshed, that I forgave the sloven- 
liness of our host, who brought me in the morning a dirty 
tablecloth for a towel. 



328 



EL PASO. 



Book II. 



CHAPTEE IX. 

El Paso and its Environs — Character of Landscape — Productions — Trees 
and Silver Ore in the Mountains — Strata of Hills near Franklin — Inse- 
curity of the Country — Pueblo Indians — Col. Langberg's Survey of the 
Mexican Eastern Frontier — Negotiation with the Custom-House Autho- 
rities, and their Treachery — Continuation of Journey — Two Koads — 
Armed Travellers and Mexican Cavalry — Unsuccessful Military Colonies 

— Guadalupe — Expedition of the Inhabitants — Topography of the Eoad : 
El Cantarecio — Pass over the Sierra de la Ventana — Charcos del Grado 

— Whirlwind and Pillars of Dust — Cerro de Lucero and Ojo de Lucero — 
Spring at the top of a Sand Hillock — Efflorescences of Soda — Laguna 
de Los Patos, and Character of the Plain — Ojo de la Laguna — Carrizal — 
Former Wealth of the Locality — Ojo Caliente — Fish in Hot Water — 
Chihuate — Bones of Men and Animals — Great Cattle Hacienda — Herd 
of Antelopes — Laguna de Encinillas — Arrival at Chihuahua. 

El Paso is a small deserted looking town, the population 
of which, — as is often the case in Spanish America, — first 
neglected, then retrograding, has ultimately been de- 
moralised by foreign elements. The inhabitants calculate 
the population at 5000 ; but the place spreads itself in 
scattered dwellings among fields and meadows, vineyards 
and orchards, along the poplar bordered banks of the river, 
eight or ten miles down its course, and contains an entire 
population of 14 or 15,000. The name, in its full Spanish 
form, is El Paso del Norte, i.e. the passage over the North 
river. 1 The market presents a very striking scene to the 
stranger. On the one side stands the church, a square 
block with a flat-roofed nave, devoid of all architectural 
beauty. The tower is built separate. On the other side 



1 The river is called Eio Grande del 
Norte, orKio Bravo del Norte, of which 
three abbreviations arc used, namely, — 



Rio Grande, Eio Bravo, and Rio del 

Norte. 



Chap. IX. CHARACTER OF LANDSCAPE. 329 

are one-storied houses, the flat roofs of which project, and 
are supported by rough columns. Above these tower the 
bare summits of the adjacent mountain chain. Under this 
primitive piazza women sit and offer onions, beans, chile, 
fresh and dried fruits, &c, &c, for sale. All are dear, 
which seems a strange contrast to the poverty of the place. 
But every family grows what it needs, and, as a whole day 
may pass before some traveller or North American trader 
may appear to purchase the half-dozen eggs or single melon, 
which have constituted a poor woman's whole stock, the 
value of her time must be added to that of the goods. But 
such is the case almost everywhere in Spanish America. 

The gardens and fields of El Paso are well irrigated 
from the river. Nothing could be grown here without 
this resource ; the vineyards even, and orchards, being 
dependent on this artificial supply. The ground is there- 
fore everywhere intersected by acequias, which spread fer- 
tility through and around the town. The exquisite climate, 
at the level of 3800 feet above the sea, and these environs 
of cultivated land, contrasting forcibly in their vivid green 
with the grey alluvial hills and rocky mountain crests, 
impart to the place a charm peculiar to all the scenery of 
Northern Mexico, which has something of the Levantic or 
North African character. 

Better dwellings and a safe neighbourhood would make 
El Paso a delightful abode, although German taste in 
scenery would find little that was familiar and homelike. 
For those who prefer verdure, masses of foliage, and that 
pearly vapour which characterises our northern landscapes, 
the atmosphere here would be too transparent, the skies too 
darkly blue and metallic, the beauty of the bleak moun- 
tains too severe and plastic, and, above all, the lack of 
verdure too apparent. I remarked this last circumstance 



330 PRODUCTIONS. Book Ti- 

to an intelligent inhabitant of the place, and his reply was 
remarkable, " We, in Mexico, think that the' green colour 
is more for cows than for men ;" and every trader knows 
that, in Mexico, stuffs and other materials of that colour 
find no sale. 

Some of the garden and field products of El Paso 
deserve especial notice. Wine is made from their excel- 
lent grapes_, which only requires better management and an 
improved process to be first-rate ; at present it tastes like 
a mixture of Malaga and vinegar : but the grapes are 
mostly used to make brandy. The raisins of El Paso 
are eaten in the country stewed like dried plums in 
Europe. Quinces abound in the orchards. Pears are only 
good for cooking, but then are excellent. Apricots, which 
are unknown in the United States, grow here, but are small 
and poor. Peaches are but ordinary, and apples thrive 
best in the cooler localities of the Sierra Madre ; all these 
fruits, however, might easily be improved. Of vegetables 
there is a great variety ; the onions are remarkable for size 
and delicacy of flavour, and in these respects surpass even 
those in California. 

Excepting the fruit trees in the gardens and fields, and 
the poplars and willows by the river, there are no trees 
near El Paso. The chaparral of the hills is the same I 
have already described, and is found, with slight variations 
iri character, in corresponding situations as far as, and 
beyond Chihuahua. But the mountain chain to the north- 
east of El Paso has pine forests on its eastern declivity, 
and North American woodcutters have settled there, who 
saw the planks by hand. Poplar is the sole timber here 
for building and joiners' work. The mountains on each 
side of the valley are said to be rich in argentiferous lead- 
ore. A North American worked a mine in the above- 



Chap. IX. INSECURITY OF THE COUNTRY. 331 

named pine forest ; the ore was found on the surface in 
large lumps, and was smelted and sold without any attempt 
at separating the lead and silver it contained. Of the 
results of this crude attempt I am ignorant. 

The insecurity of the country and the narrow limits of 
my time prevented my examining into the geological struc- 
ture of the surrounding mountains, in which limestone, 
sandstone, granite, porphyry, and different metamorphic 
rocks appeared to prevail. The pebbles and fragments in 
the alluvial masses near Franklin, which I was able to 
examine close to our camping-place, were very interesting. 
They consisted of porphyry and granite, with every transi- 
tion between both ; metamorphic masses in which the 
original limestone or sandstone may still be recognized ; 
while in other cases the original nature of the rock has 
disappeared in the various grades of transition between the 
sedimentary, the plutonic, and the volcanic masses. As in 
the vicinity of Hart's Mill, I saw metamorphic masses 
among the detached fragments which contained shells and 
crystals of felspar. 

The insecurity of the country is a constant hindrance to 
the researches of the naturalist. I was by no means timid, but 
caution was so strongly urged upon me that it would have 
been folly to have disregarded it. " How are the Indians ?" 
was Mr. M.'s first inquiry on our arrival at El Paso. " Son 
malisimos ahora" — " worse than ever, " was the answer. 
Only a short time previously they had attacked the farms 
on the North American side of the stream, and carried off 
the cattle close to the houses in Franklin and Macgoffinville. 
They had also attacked several caravans near El Paso. 
Here I became acquainted with Colonel Langberg, by 
birth a Dane, but educated in Germany, and then in the 
service of the Mexican republic, commanding the troops on 



332 



PUEBLO INDIANS. 



Book II. 



the frontier; and he advised me in the strongest terms 
never to leave the road, even for twenty paces, alone. 
Although we encamped close to the houses at Franklin, it 
was considered necessary to bring our mules at night into 
the courtyard of the empty Fort, and to keep guard over 
them. 

These dreaded Indians are chiefly the Apaches, who 
inhabit the mountain districts of New Mexico, Chihuahua, 
and West Texas. The christianised Indians of the valley of 
the Rio Grande, known as the Pueblo Indians, are peaceful 
cultivators of the soil, and are fully admitted into the rights 
of citizenship. They possess a village called Sinecu, within 
the limits of El Paso, and are seen daily in the town, the 
men with their long braided hair, and the women with their 
painted faces. 1 Whenever the country around El Paso is 
unmolested by the Comanches the respite may be attri- 
buted to the hostility existing between them and the 
Apaches. Farther on I shall have to refer to a treaty 
drawn up by Colonel Langberg, between the State of 
Chihuahua and the Comanches against the Apaches, which 
has not been without good results. The above-named officer 
— in an extensive military survey of the eastern frontier 
of Mexico, from El Paso to the lower Rio Grande — visited 
a powerful Comanche tribe in their own dwellings. Colonel 
Langberg showed me here some beautifully-executed topo- 
graphical drawings belonging to the survey, by a Polish 
gentleman serving under him. 

Our arrangements at El Paso occupied us from the 3rd 
to the 9th of November. Of these the negotiations with 



1 The North Americans call these 
Indians simply Pueblos, incorrectly 
using the name as that of their tribe. 
But a Pueblo, according to the old 
Spanish colonial law, still in effect in 
Mexico, is a community of Indians re- 



cognized by the government, and en- 
dowed with certain rights and privileges. 
Pueblo Indians are, therefore, those who 
belong to the State, and possess civil 
rights, of whatever tribe they may be. 



Chap. IX. CUSTOM-HOUSE AUTHORITIES. 333 

the custom-house authorities formed the greater part, and 
I had to translate the detailed invoice of our large mer- 
cantile stores into Spanish. This gave me an insight into 
the manoeuvres carried on by each party upon the occasion 
of any large importation of goods. The custom-house 
officers take advantage of a very complicated and involved 
mode of calculation in settling the amount of duty, while 
the merchant equally profits by their ignorance of the real 
value of his goods and their taste for bribes. Thus for 
several days a kind of sham fight is carried on, till at last 
a sum is agreed upon in the lump, which seldom exceeds a 
half or a third of the fixed dues. Even thus, we had to pay 
duty to the amount of 10,000 dollars. 

On the 7th and 8th our caravan crossed the river. The 
water being high, we had to use the ferry. By low water 
the waggons could have been driven through the stream 
without difficulty, speed only being necessary on account 
of the quicksands. On the 9th the goods were examined 
at the custom-house, which was little more than a form, as 
the amount of duty had been previously settled. Some 
goods are entirely prohibited, and made-clothing comes 
under this category. We had several chests of such things, 
and Mr. M. having openly declared them, they had been 
included in the same arrangement as the other goods ; but 
when we arrived at Chihuahua we discovered that they had 
been denounced as contraband — an act of perfidy which 
furnished all the custom-house authorities at Chihuahua 
with a rich and elegant wardrobe, free of cost. 

We encamped the night of the 9th- 10th three miles 
beyond the town, at the limit of the valley. On my watch 
I heard a dull growling, and one of our Mexican drivers 
said it was a bear. 

For the first five or six days' journey from El Paso to 



334 ARMED TRAVELLERS. Book IL 

Chihuahua, we had the choice of two roads. The one is 
considerably shorter, but dangerous and difficult, as it takes 
a southern direction over the notorious medanos, or quick- 
sand hills ; the other avoids these by following the course 
of the river two days' journey as far as the village Guada- 
lupe, and again joins the high road somewhat to the 
north of Carrizal. We chose the last, and our caravan 
proceeded therefore down the valley to Guadalupe. 

The road at first passed close along the base of the allu- 
vial terrace, through thickets of mezquite and a shrubby 
plant of the order of composite ; then it wound up the ter- 
race, which consists of sand, gravel, and fragments of rocks, 
overgrown with mezquite, larrea, fouquiera, artemisia, 
shrubby labiates, cacti, yuccas, &c. &c. In some places the 
river had formed its channel close to the terrace, forming a 
perpendicular sand cliff, rendering the road at its very edge 
in no slight degree dangerous. We met several travellers 
here, alone and in parties, on foot and on horseback, but all, 
without exception, armed with guns, pistols, lances, and even 
bows and arrows. A division of Mexican cavalry passed 
us armed with carbines, pistols, lances, sabres, and shields. 
Colonel Langberg had been sent with this troop to quell a 
revolt in the military colony near Guadalupe, to which the 
poor colonists had been driven by hunger, and which the 
Colonel met with great forbearance and consideration. 
The people had driven away their commander, had seized 
some cattle, satisfied their hunger, and demanded arrears 
of pay. Some had crossed the river and deserted to Texas. 

The Mexican military colonies are villages for married 
soldiers, who are bound to cultivate the land as well as 
defend it ; but the plan does not appear to answer. Al- 
though this colony 1 is only a few miles distant from 

1 I cannot find the name among my notes. 



Chap. IX. GUADALUPE. 335 

Guadalupe, the Apaches had carried off thirty cows from 
the immediate neighbourhood of the houses, only the 
evening before we arrived there. A respectable inhabitant 
remarked to me that " the soldiers starve, and have neither 
horses nor clothing ; how can they protect us from the 
Indians ? " They are not less afraid of them than the 
inhabitants of Guadalupe are; and these again fear the 
soldiers as much as they do the Indians. 

We reached Guadalupe the evening of the 12th. Few 
men were in the village, eighty being in pursuit of the 
Indians. Such expeditions (campailas) are very frequent 
throughout Northern Mexico, and it is an error to suppose 
that the people fail in courage and bravery, although they are 
seldom successful. The population of this village consists 
principally of immigrants from New Mexico, who have 
given up their former homes since the annexation to the 
United States. These immigrants formed the best portion 
of the old population of that territory. About six miles 
lower down the river, a new village — named San Ygnacio 
— has been founded by the settlement of New Mexican 
immigrants. 

From hence, leaving the Sierra de Cantarecio on the 
left, and the Sierra de Guadalupe on the right, the 
road rises gradually to the higher ground south of the Rio 
Grande. The space between the above-named mountains 
is a plain rising somewhat to the south^ and covered with 
the common chaparral of these localities. At noon we 
stopped at Cantarecio, a watering-place, where we found 
only a little muddy water. In the evening, when dark, 
we passed — turning to the west, by a slow ascending plain 
of firm clayey soil, which contracted to a broad mountain 
pass — the chain of hills, by which the terrace of Canta- 
recio is separated from that of the Medanos, and encamped 



336 



CHARCOS DEL GRADO. 



Book II. 



for the night on the opposite side, on a grass-covered 
plain. The mountain peaks near the pass are bare, rocky, 
and in some places of grotesque form. On the right an open- 
ing passes through the rock from one side of the mountain 
to the other ; and one of our Mexican drivers told me that 
this part of the mountain is named, from this circumstance, 
Sierra de la Ventana, " Window Mountain." This name, 
however, did not appear to be generally used, for a 
gentleman, who had accompanied us from El Paso, called 
it Sierra de los Me'danos, or Sandhill Mountain. Behind 
this rose, as we approached it from the east, the needles 
and peaks of the Sierra de la Eancheria, which bears a 
great resemblance to the Sierra de los Organos. Farther 
on eastward, appears a similar mountain group named Sierra 
del Candelario. In the plain at the base of the former are 
the Charcos del Grado, pools surrounded by mimbre 1 
bushes. We reached these during the morning, and 
found fresh tracks of Indians, showing the need for 
redoubled caution. In the afternoon we distinguished, 
as we thought, the smoke of five fires in a southerly 
direction ; but the next day we discovered that they had 
been columns of dust caused by whirlwinds. I saw similar 
ones subsequently on a larger scale on the road to California, 
in the steppes of the state Sonora. The immoveability 
and duration of these whirlwinds are most curious and 
deceptive ; I have often watched them for hours on one 
spot. The phenomenon has much similarity with water- 
spouts. I have never heard whether they are attended 
with such danger in the North American steppes as was ex- 
perienced by the French troops on the southern side of the 



1 Mimbre is a beautiful shrub, which 
in northern Mexico, from Rio Grande 
to California, flourishes on the banks of 
intermitting streams. It is a bignonia- 



ceous plant, with pink and white blos- 
soms, and long, pendant, lanceolate 
leaves— a chilopsis. 



Chap. IX. OJO DE LUCERO. 337 

Atlas. 1 In the evening we advanced over a level plain 
towards a mountain chain of perpendicular rocks, among 
which one, remarkably angular and defined in its form, the 
Cerro de Lucero, attracts attention. We continued our 
journey through a portion of the night, and encamped the 
next morning at Ojo de Lucero, a spring near the Laguna 
de los Patos. This is a lake on the left of the road. The 
plain is mostly covered with grass, but near the Cerro 
de Lucero tracts of clay or sand are covered with an 
efflorescence apparently of carbonate of soda. Our road, 
at least, took us over places of this nature ; and, from 
appearances, it seemed probable that, to the right of the 
road, they existed to a considerable extent. It was over this 
portion of the plain that we had seen, and now saw more 
closely, those columns of dust; their recurrence in the same 
locality may be accounted for by the nature of the soil. 

At no great distance from the Ojo de Lucero we met 
with another spring, Ojo del Coyote, remarkable as rising 
in the summit of a sandhill about 20 or 30 feet high. 
This curious circumstance is, however, easily explained, the 
sandhill being built up by the spring. It is entirely 
surrounded by the same kind of efflorescence. The 
Mexicans call this salt — which they collect for soap-boiling 
— " Tequesquite :" evidently an Aztec word. A few miles 
farther, at no great distance from the Laguna de los Patos, 
a warm spring rises in several eddies from the white sand. 
It forms a clear tepid brook, which flows into a piece of 
water surrounded by tall reeds, on the side of the road. 
This place was frequented by numbers of waterfowl — ducks, 
coots, and a large black web-footed bird, with very long 



1 Among the clever views of southern 
Abyssinia, in Bernaz's beautiful work, 
there is one which exactly represents 



what I saw, only from a greater dis- 
tance, in Sonora. 



338 CARRIZAL. Book II. 

legs, long neck, and long bill, called by the Mexicans 
Gallareda. They flew, when disturbed, in wedge-shaped 
flocks, with outstretched necks like geese. The spring and 
the piece of water are called Ojo de la Laguna. The 
water is slightly alkalic, and a white efflorescence collects 
at its edge. 

On the morning of the 17th we arrived at Carrizal, an 
important but now ruinous village, formerly a pre- 
sidio or military post for the protection of the country 
against the Apaches. These foes of all civilized existence 
have a Rancheria in one of the neighbouring mountain 
chains. The locality of their fastness was pointed out to 
me from the houses in Carrizal, and the robbers can, at all 
times, from their rocky pinnacles watch the remnant of 
the numerous herds of cattle which must inevitably become 
their prey. The inhabitants, as in all North Mexican 
localities, are literally the shepherds to the Apaches; 
not indeed willing ones, for every man carried his gun. 
Such constant warfare has made the inhabitants of Carrizal 
itself wild and brutal, so that the traveller had better be on 
his guard against them. 

The situation of this place is one of the most beautiful 
on the North Mexican table-land. An extensive plain, 
watered by several streams, is surrounded in the distance 
by a girdle of bare, steep mountains. A clear mountain 
stream, dispensing fertility to field and meadow in its 
course, flows through canals between raised banks, for miles 
through the plain, its course marked by long rows of 
poplars. Twenty years since, herds of many hundred 
thousands of cattle grazed upon this plain. Now they 
have dwindled down to the mere shadow of their former 
number ; and, comparing the present state of this locality 
with the wealth it was known formerly to possess, the 



Chap. IX. OJO CALIENTE. 339 

conclusion is irresistible, that of all destructive animals 
man is the worst. 

The place indeed is full of ruins, and lies on a raised 
platform consisting of hard red clay, with pebbles and 
fragments of sandstone, evidently changed by the influence 
of heat, red porphyry, black scoriaceous lava, yellow and 
green scoriae, much resembling pumice, and numerous 
pebbles of chalcedony. The country is bare of trees, with 
the exception of the poplars along the irrigating canals ; 
so that these are literally the only trees visible throughout 
the whole journey from the Rio Grande to Chihuahua. 

Our lady traveller, having met with a serious accident, 
was compelled to trust herself to the medical care of 
some of the women of the place. They prepared a de- 
coction from the branches of a shrub, in which at the same 
time they boiled the gold ring which their patient usually 
wore. This circumstance caused the caravan to rest here 
a day. We encamped close to the houses, but our sleep 
was disturbed by the howling of a pack of wolves, which, 
during the whole night, fought with the dogs of the village 
over the carcase of a mule which had died that evening. 

We started again on the afternoon of the 19th, and 
reached towards evening a warm spring of rather high 
temperature, named Ojo Caliente, which rises at the base 
of a group of phonolitic hills. The water, which is clear, 
and pure in taste, forms a considerable stream ; but I am 
not sure whether it reaches the Laguna de los Patos, or is 
retained in the plain for purposes of irrigation. I could 
not ascertain the exact degree of the temperature, from 
want of the necessary instruments ; but the numerous fish 
which sported in its waters seemed to find it very enjoy- 
able. We remained here a portion of the night. 

The next was one of the very few rainy days of our 

z 2 



340 GKBAT CATTLE HACIENDA. Book II. 

journey. We travelled nevertheless from morning till 
evening, between bare mountains, over rocky, treeless, 
but grass-covered hills, and passed a portion of the night 
on the broad level pass of Chihuate, a notorious place, 
where numerous bones of men and animals warned us not 
to leave hold of our arms. Many parties of travellers 
have been attacked here by the Indians with much loss of 
life. The rocks consist of a grey and very hard phonolitic 
porphyry. 

We started at two in the morning, in order to reach the 
Laguna de Encinillas without a halt. Towards eight 
o'clock we came to a descent in the road, which, from the 
name of a hacienda situated on the other side of the moun- 
tain, is called the descent of Agua Nueva, and leads to 
the lower level of the lake. The hacienda of Agua Nueva 
is one of the few large grazing estates in North Mexico 
where the herds still exist on the old Mexican scale of 
cattle keeping 5 and its owner, Don Estanislao Porras, in 
Chihuahua, is one of the rare instances in this country of a 
man possessing wealth acquired by his own exertions. He 
protects his cattle from the Indians by means of numerous 
and well armed shepherds, although two of his sons and 
several of his servants have lost their lives by their attacks. 
As we descended the hill, the largest herd of antelopes 
passed that I had ever seen. It must have numbered 
more than 1000, and extended from one mountain to 
another, straight across the valley, vanishing as quick 
almost as thought from our sight. 

The plain in which the Lake of Encinillas lies, is sur- 
rounded by steep mountains, and is one of the richest 
and most valuable localities in the world for cattle-grazing, 
in times past supporting innumerable herds. Now it 
is almost a desert. I shall have to speak again of this 



Chap. IX. ARRIVAL AT CHIHUAHUA. 341 

region and of the hacienda of Encinillas, — a possession 
which occupies almost the whole space between El Paso 
and Chihuahua, and which, in Europe, would form a 
dukedom. 

We continued our journey along the east shore of the 
lake. On the 23rd of November I hastened forward, with 
Mr. and Mrs. M., to Chihuahua. From our last encamp- 
ment the distance was fifty miles, which we accomplished 
between four in the morning and one in the afternoon ; 
Mr. and Mrs. M. in a carriage, and I, with a servant, on 
horseback. The road passes the buildings of the Eancho 
del Sacramento, — an estate which, during the Mexican 
war, gave its name to an important battle. Arrived in the 
town, I was hospitably received by a German merchant, 
Mr. William Feldman, of Hamburg. 



342 TOWN OF CHIHUAHUA. Book II. 



CHAPTEE X. 

Sojourn at Chihuahua — Situation, Name, ancient Splendour, and present 
Decay of the Town — Silver Scoria as a Building Material — Aqueduct — 
Climate and Physiological Influences — Insecurity of the Country — His- 
tory of the later Indian Fights in North Mexico — Examples of Mexican 
Bravery — Government Measures — Excursions — Cerro Grande — Bough- 
riding and Mexican Horses — Hunting Party — Santa Eulalia and its 
Silver Mines. 

The town of Chihuahua — which, from November 1852, 
till May 1853, was, with few interruptions, my abode — is 
situated upon a plain surrounded by bare and rocky moun- 
tains. Dr. Wislizenus has determined its level above the 
sea at 4640 feet, about 800 or 900 feet higher than the 
level of the valley of the Rio Grande at El Paso. In 
spite of the bleak aspect of the mountains, this region 
possesses much beauty, not only in the generally grand 
character of its scenery, but in many of its more peculiar 
forms and features. Two small mountain-streams, near 
one of which the town is situated, unite at the distance of 
about half a mile, and form a small river which falls into 
the Rio Conchos, or, according to another report, dis- 
appears before reaching it. One of these small streams 
rises in the mountains of Sacramento and Torreon, which 
lie to the south-west of the Laguna of Encinillas ; the 
other in the rocky defiles of the mountain group to the 
south-west of the town. United, they flow through a 
narrow pass between the mountains which bound the plain 
to the east ; and then irrigate the cornfields in the plain of 
Tavalope, on the other side of this mountain chain. The 
spot where they unite is called La Junta. A mill with 



^r 



it 




Chap. X. ANCIENT SPLENDOUR OF THE TOWN. 343 

an agave plantation, at the foot of a steep rock — sur- 
rounded by old poplars shading hollows filled with crystal 
clear water — and, lower down, this same stream, foaming 
through a narrow cleft between the mountains, present a 
scene of much beauty. This locality is well known to the 
inhabitants as a resort for parties of pleasure, and it would 
almost seem as if the word Chihuahua, which means a place 
or town of pleasure, applies especially to this spot. The 
word belongs probably to the Tarumare language, in which 
names of places are indicated by tchi or tchic, usually added 
to the end of the word. Smelting works have lately been 
established here, which prepare the silver ore raised at 
St. Eulalia either from new mines or from old ones lately 
reopened. These mines are from twelve to fifteen English 
miles distant from Chihuahua; and from 1703 to 1833, in 
spite of this distance, the ore was brought here for smelting. 
The town of Chihuahua derived its ancient wealth and 
splendour from the rich mines of Santa Eulalia and the 
decline of the town has followed that of the mines. The 
population, which amounted to 76,000 during the pros- 
perity of the mines, has, since their decline, and the sepa- 
ration from Spain, sunk to 12,000 ; and, with the excep- 
tion of a few families in which old property has been 
retained, or gained afresh by an awakening spirit of 
enterprise, poverty with an accompanying amount of de- 
moralisation has gained ground. The town is more or less 
unsafe. Going into the courtyard, one evening soon after 
my arrival, I was surprised by Mr. M.'s advising me to 
take my pistol ; and, upon my remarking that our court 
was inaccessible on all sides, it was with still greater 
surprise that I was bid to remark the windows of the ad- 
joining houses which commanded our court. This was in 
one of the first houses in the best part of the town ; and so 



344 S1LVEE SCOEIA. Book II. 

long as I remained here I never slept without my revolver 
under my pillow. Among the women prostitution is 
prevailing ; but, notwithstanding its extent, this evil must 
not be judged too severely. These people have good 
qualities, and are by no means deficient in better feelings ; 
but the change in the time of a generation from long habits 
of affluence and luxury, with a natural taste for pleasure, to 
extreme poverty — exposed to the seductions of unprincipled 
libertines and rich travelling merchants — the results were 
almost inevitable. To this may be added the common 
practice of the Church in Mexico, as well as in most parts 
of Spanish America, of fixing marriage fees at a price 
unattainable by the general body of the people, while no civil 
marriage contract exists ; so that it is not to be wondered at 
that connexions take place opposed to the moral feeling 
and to the welfare of society. The temporary residents 
make light of the evil, and have all their concubines pro 
tempore. 

The whole design of the town, with its pleasant streets 
and many noble edifices, marks the past periods of its 
splendour ; and, even in its present decay, it is far more 
beautiful as a whole than any town of similar pretension in 
the United States. 

The reader may form some idea of the vast quantities 
of silver-ore formerly smelted here, when I mention that 
hundreds of houses, and the walls of all the gardens and 
fields in the environs, are built of the scoria, in which, ac- 
cording to trustworthy analysis, enough silver remains to 
make fresh smelting, under better and more scientific 
management, a profitable undertaking. Forty-three mil- 
lions of marks of silver have been the produce of these 
mines in 130 years. Farther on in this chapter, I shall 
describe the mines of Santa Eulalia more exactly. I will 



Chap. X. CLIMATE OF CHIHUAHUA. 345 

only now remark that, for them and for the town of Chi- 
huahua, there is every prospect of a renewed and lasting 
period of wealth and splendour, since, sooner or later, 
there can be no doubt that capital and enterprise will be 
found, to develop the natural resources of the locality into 
permanent activity. 

The town lies at the foot of the Cerro Grande, an iso- 
lated mountain peak of the elevated eastern bank of the 
southward-tending river. From the low level of its bed 
its waters are not available for the benefit of the higher 
ground ; but a stone aqueduct, raised for many miles upon 
magnificent arches, conducts a small mountain stream for 
the irrigation of the higher gardens and fields, and supplies 
the streets of the town with an abundance of excellent 
water. This noble structure, which would do honour to 
the largest town, was built at the sole cost of a private indi- 
vidual. It has an imposing effect in the landscape, and, 
by the fertility it spreads over garden and field, adds 
much to its beauty. For, although wheat and other field- 
produce are sufficiently watered by the summer rains, yet 
the gardens would be bare, without irrigation, and even the 
fields would become green several months later. No rain 
falls here before the end of May, and only plants of pecu- 
liar organization shoot forth before that period. The gene- 
ral characteristics of the climate of Chihuahua are those 
common to all the higher northern regions of Mexico : a 
peculiar transparency and dryness of the atmosphere dur- 
ing the longer half of the year, and a remarkably favour- 
able influence upon bodily health and activity. It is assur- 
edly one of the most healthy climates in the world, for, 
although the people are subject to many illnesses, this may 
be truly attributed to the miserable state of the poorer 
classes, who are neither sufficiently fed nor provided with 



346 INSECUEITY OF THE COUNTRY. Book II. 

means for warmth and clothing. Some little snow falls 
occasionally in the winter, and hoar-frosts occur during 
the night, when some ice forms upon the pools. But the 
days succeeding these frosty nights are peculiarly beau- 
tiful, and tempted me to longer and shorter excursions, as 
often as my duties allowed. 

But the insecurity of the country was a greater barrier to 
these excursions than my daily duties. No walk could be 
taken even close to the town without arms. Crosses were 
erected not many hundred paces from the houses, indicating 
spots where murders had been committed by the Indians. 
At no greater distance shepherds carried guns to protect 
their cattle. The occupation of these men is excessively 
dangerous, and nothing but resignation or great courage 
can make it endurable. The larger number of those who 
yearly fall a sacrifice to Indian barbarity belong to this 
class ; and this fact is statistically so clear, that merchants 
hesitate to give credit to the most respectable among them, 
" because at any moment they may be murdered by the 
Indians." 

In their relation to the Indians, it is unjust to attribute 
cowardice to the Mexicans. The lower classes, on the 
contrary, exhibit much bravery ; and though many through- 
out North Mexico are killed daily by these savages, the 
reverse is frequently the case. The masters who, without 
compunction, expose their shepherds and labourers to such 
danger, are much more to be blamed, and, above all, the 
Government, — which is too cowardly and negligent to grant 
the people sufficient means for their own defence, and yet 
have neither the strength nor the will to protect them. 
The inhabitants of a village in the State of Chihuahua — 
having had their cattle stolen by a band of Apaches, some 
women and children carried off, and some of their men 



Chap. X. EXAMPLES OF MEXICAN BEAVEKY. 347 

killed, — called upon their neighbours in another village for 
help, and undertook an expedition into the mountains 
against the robbers ; but they were censured by the Go- 
vernment for thus helping themselves, and told not to 
meddle with what belonged to the military power of the 
State ! And, while these Mexican Regents are jealous of 
any indication of self-reliance in the people, every lower 
official turns against the higher and demands help and pro- 
tection. In the " Pronunciamiento " of the garrison of 
Chihuahua with which, on the 23rd of December, the 
Revolution of 1852 and '53 broke out, one of the faults 
attributed to the government of the President Arista 
was the absence of protection against the Indians in the 
Frontier States. 

Farther details of my narrative will bring to light the 
fearful condition of those portions of Mexico which are 
exposed to these Indian marauders ; and I will now men- 
tion only a few instances of the bravery of these greatly 
decried Mexicans, with which I became acquainted during 
my residence in Chihuahua. 

Gabriel Guzman, a herdsman on a neighbouring estate, 
with seven others, in order to protect their master's cattle, 
resisted a band of sixty-seven Comanches nine hours, 
instead of seeking their own safety in flight, as they might 
have done. All eight remained upon the ground, after 
having killed or mortally wounded a much larger number 
of the savages. Guzman and a Comanche were found 
grasping each other's hair, and each with the knife of his 
adversary in his body. This happened not very long 
before my arrival. 

Another of the same class, Jesus Dominguez, was my 
companion in several excursions, and was well known for 



348 EXAMPLES OF MEXICAN BRAVERY. Book IT. 

daring as well as courage ; I shall have to speak of him 
again, on my journey to the Sierra Madre. He had often 
been wounded, and was suffering, when I first saw him, 
from the effects of an arrow wound near the spine. In 
order to recover for his master some valuable horses, 
which had been stolen by the Apaches, he, with several 
others, followed the thieves close to their haunts in the 
mountains. As the night approached, they could see the 
robbers in the distance. Dominguez, who, when a boy, had 
been for a long time a prisoner among the Apaches, took 
off his clothes, and assumed the appearance of a Comanche 
warrior. By a more direct path he got before the Apaches, 
and, as they approached with the horses, he sprang suddenly 
from behind a rock raising the Comanche war-hoop, shot 
down two of the Apaches, and so terrified the whole band, 
that, in the confusion, he not only succeeded in bringing 
away the stolen horses but some others also. 

For this heroic fulfilment of duty the men of this class 
often meet with base ingratitude. On another similar occa- 
sion Dominguez lost his own horse, it being shot from 
under him ; but it never occurred to his master, a very rich 
man, to replace it. The miserable and cowardly selfishness 
of the higher classes, to whom in Mexico almost all the 
landed property belongs, is the cause of the wretched state 
into which the localities exposed to the Indians have fallen. 
There are certainly some few praiseworthy examples of 
courage and energy among the higher classes, but they are 
counterbalanced by deplorable examples of the reverse. 
Don Pedro Zuloaga, belonging to one of the first families 
in Chihuahua, who, with others, had pursued a body of In- 
dians who had ventured into the immediate neighbourhood 
of the town, fell, shamefully deserted by his companions, 



Chap. X. EXAMPLES OF MEXICAN BEAVEEY. 349 

alive into the hands of the Indians, by whom he was hewn 
in pieces. Portions of his body were found afterwards in 
a small circuit, attached to the mezquite bushes. 

Many distinguished families in Northern Mexico bewail 
the loss of children stolen from them by the Indians. The 
following tale was related to me in Chihuahua by a mem- 
ber of the family concerned. 

Two sisters, ladies from Durango, lived, each with a 
child — a boy and a girl — at the Kancho de la Tinaje, two 
leguas from the town. The neighbourhood was attacked 
by a band of Comanches, and the ladies, whose husbands 
were absent, sought refuge with their children in the town, 
but were seized by the Indians on the road. Just as this 
happened, one of the husbands approached, and, seeing his 
wife in the hands of one of these savages, fired both barrels 
of his gun at him, but missed ; and was immediately 
speared by the Indian. The lady fortunately fainted, and 
the Indians, who were immediately pursued, fled, leaving 
her for dead. The other lady also escaped by a lucky 
chance. The band having ridden rapidly for some distance, 
came to a river, where they stopped. While the Indians 
bathed here, the stolen horses took to flight and were 
followed by those of the horde. The Indians hastened 
after them, and left the lady. They had now only the two 
children. The girl was sharp-witted ; caressed the old 
Comanche, who held her before him on his saddle, and 
coaxed him till he let her go, close to some inhabited place. 
But the boy, as his friends afterwards heard, resisted, and 
struck the Indian who carried him in the face. As a 
punishment they stripped him of his good clothes, and 
changed them with those of a poor lad who had been 
carried off with him from the same estate, and who after- 
wards found his way home again. Thus, little Eamon Lopez 



350 GOVERNMENT MEASURES. Book II. 

remained alone in captivity, and nothing has since been 
heard of him, although his family promised a reward of 
4000 dollars to any one who could effect his recovery. I 
made known the circumstance and the reward in Texas 
and other localities bordering on the United States, but 
with little chance of success, as years had already elapsed. 
Should the lad still be living, he must have become a 
savage, and has probably won his first laurels as a robber, 
if not near his birthplace yet with as much satisfaction as 
a real Comanche. It is generally asserted that boys cap- 
tured from a civilized race, and brought up by the Indians, 
become more dangerous robbers and greater enemies to 
civilized existence than the Indians themselves. 

The government of Chihuahua has put many plans into 
operation for combating these destructive wild Indians, and 
for getting rid of the Apaches from their territory. The 
history of these measures is not uninteresting, and I will 
relate what I have learned about them. 

About fifteen years since, an Irish adventurer, named 
James Kirker, who had become captain to a band of 
Shawnee Indians, came, I know not by what inducement, 
into this neighbourhood, and with his troops entered into 
the service of the State of Chihuahua under an engagement 
to carry on a war of extermination against the Apaches ; 
and they quite fulfilled their word, till their own lessened 
numbers made it impossible for them to cope with the 
stronger forces of their enemy. 

For a similar purpose, in 1850, the Government took 
into its service a dangerous desperado from Texas, named 
Glanton, who, with a similar band, had arrived at Chi- 
huahua on his way to California. These wretches, who 
had been promised a certain sum for every Indian scalp, 
found it easier to sell to the Government the scalps of its 



Chap. X. COLONEL LANGBEEG. 351 

own citizens, whom they shot down whenever it was practi- 
cable. With the exception of the shameful part they took 
in betraying and murdering a whole tribe invited to a 
peace conference, they did but little injury to the Apaches. 
They soon became more dangerous to the State of Chihua- 
hua than the Apaches had been, and all rejoiced when they 
continued their journey to California. On the Colorado, 
where they took possession of the passage over the river in 
order to levy a high toll from the passengers, they were 
killed in a tumult with the Yuma Indians. 

In the beginning of 1852, Colonel Langberg, during the 
before-named survey of the Rio Grande territory in the State 
of Cohahuila, met with the Seminole chief, " Wild Cat," 
well known in the history of the Indian wars of Florida, 
and the equally well known negro, Gover Jones, with the 
rest of the expatriated Seminoles. The Colonel enlisted 
the whole party, and brought them to Chihuahua, in order 
to employ them against the Apaches and other hostile 
Indian tribes. But the Government of the State — whether 
from fear of the Seminoles, or from jealousy of Colonel 
Langberg, or want of money — refused to ratify the treaty ; 
and the two heroes who had gained a classic name in the 
Florida war, left Chihuahua full of indignation, declaring 
that there was not one " gentleman " in the whole body of 
the Government. 

Though, in this instance, Colonel Langberg' s exertions 
failed, the treaty which he concluded between the Govern- 
ment of Chihuahua and the Comanches of the Bolson de 
Mapimi against the Apaches has had important results. 

The haunts of these last do not extend to the south of 
the State of Chihuahua, and when they venture their attacks 
in that direction they come across their sworn enemies 
the Comanches. The Government has profited by the 



352 THE CHIEF, BAJO-EL-SOL. Book II. 

enmity of these two nations to oppose the one to the other. 
The history of these Indian wars, in which the civilized 
or half-civilized population of the country is involved, is full 
of interesting episodes, which would furnish rich materials 
for the pen of a Cooper. When Colonel Langberg visited 
the Southern Comanches who inhabit the Steppes, known 
by the name of the Bolson de Mapimi, the tribe was com- 
manded by an old woman, called by the Mexicans " the 
Generaless of all the Comanches." The eldest son of this 
Indian princess was known in Mexico by the name " Bajo- 
el-Sol," or " Under-the-Sun." He had raised himself above 
the level of his tribe, and had he lived would have been its 
reformer. He considered his promise to the Government 
of Chihuahua, to fight the Apaches wherever he met with 
them, as a sacred pledge. Upon an expedition which — 
accompanied by some few young warriors of his tribe — he 
undertook to discover the position of the enemy, he came 
unawares, in the first dawn of the morning, upon a rancheria 
of the ApacheSj of the tribe of the Espejos. They were 
not remarked, and the companions of the young hero urged 
him to retreat. But this was not his intention. "I have 
given my word to destroy the Apaches," he said, "and 
Bajo-el-Sol will never break his word." Hereupon he 
raised the war-cry of his tribe ; six of his companions fol- 
lowed him, and like wild beasts they broke into the Apache 
village, cutting down everything before them, and spreading 
death and terror around, till they had all fallen themselves. 
Such events as these are quickly made known throughout 
Mexico by the captives escaping from these tribes ; and the 
Mexicans themselves are so conscious of their Indian origin 
that they take pride in all deeds of Indian valour. I have 
remarked at least that such events are related with much 
satisfaction. After the death of Bajo-el-Sol, his brother, 



Chap. X. GOVERNMENT MEASURES. 353 

who became the head of the tribe, considered himself 
bound to carry on the war with the Apaches. During my 
stay at Chihuahua he attacked one of their rancherias, and 
brought away thirty-seven scalps. Subsequently, on my 
journey from Chihuahua to Texas, I passed the Presidio 
del Norte (on the Rio Grande, below El Paso), whence the 
Espejo Apaches had shortly before carried off several young 
girls. The Nortenos, as the inhabitants are called, had 
sought aid from their allies the Comanches, and with them 
had concerted an expedition to the Sierra Rica, where the 
Espejos tribe then dwelt; and, as we had encamped near 
the Presidio, we were roused in the night by a troop of 
horsemen who passed us with laughter and song. They 
were a body of Nortefios and Comanches just starting on 
this expedition. I subsequently heard that they succeeded 
in driving this Apache tribe from the Sierra Rica into the 
territory of Texas. On a subsequent journey from Texas 
to California, at the eastern base of the Limpia Mountains, 
I met the remainder of this tribe, which, joined to another 
tribe of Mescalero 1 Apaches, were long the terror of 
another portion of the State of Chihuahua ; they made 
some demonstration of attacking our caravan. 

During my residence at Chihuahua, the Mescaleros, 
being hard pressed by the Comanches, sent an envoy there 
to arrange a treaty of peace. A safe conduct is given on 
such occasions. I was told that these messengers were 
murdered on their return by order of the government, 
but I cannot answer for the truth of the statement. Such 
treachery, however, has in earlier times been recklessly 
committed, as for instance under Glanton. 



1 The Espejos are only a sub-divi- 
sion of the Mescaleros. Perhaps they 
no longer exist. The name was only 
the plural form of that of their chief, 



" Espejo " or " the Mirror." Many small 
tribes or bands, existing but temporarily, 
derive their names in a similar manner. 



354 EXCURSIONS. Eook II. 

In order to complete my catalogue of the government 
measures, I must here refer to the military colonies, of 
which I have already spoken in the previous chapter. I 
then commented upon their uselessness. A totally dif- 
ferent military system — the introduction of a well-armed 
militia — arming the whole population, with at the same 
time freedom of movement — in short, the decentralisation 
of all offensive and defensive measures, and the encou- 
ragement of every manifestation of individual strength, 
would soon keep these savages in check, and eventually 
get rid of them, if only a Mexican government possessed 
sense and energy enough for such a system. 

There is one way, however, in which individual enter- 
prise in this direction has been excited. The government 
has set a high reward for every Indian either captured or 
killed. It gives 200 dollars for every adult Indian, alive or 
dead. In the last case the scalp and ears of the victim must 
be exhibited in proof of the fact. An Indian woman, alive, 
is valued at 150 dollars; a living boy at the same sum, 
while for one dead 100 dollars is given. Captive Indian 
children are placed by the government in good families to 
be brought up. I have seen many such quite civilized. 
The girls become good servants ; but the boys, as a rule, 
run away as soon as they have reached a certain age. 

From this digression I return to an account of my ex- 
cursions. One of the first was to the summit of the Cerro 
Grande. The steep sides of this isolated mountain, which 
consist of grey and reddish trachytic porphyry, are covered 
with grass, interesting varieties of cacti, and other plants* 
peculiar to this region. From the summit you overlook 
a wide range of bare valleys, plains, and mountains. At 
the base, to the south-east, a vein of manganese rises to 
the surface. The ore is Psilomelan. A superficial shaft 






Chap. X. ROUGH-RIDING AND MEXICAN HORSES. 355 

has been driven there, probably in expectation of a more 
valuable metal. 

One can go quite round this mountain, passing over a 
broad and rather elevated pass behind the town, and re- 
turning through the valley of Tavalope, past the Junta. 
This tour, which describes a circle of about ten miles, I 
made on horseback with a man whom I shall subsequently 
have often to mention. Don Guillermo had offered me a 
horse which not every one would have liked to ride, and 
which indeed taxed all my skill to control. But though 
I occasionally nearly lost my seat, our wild gallop over 
the rough ground, intersected by deep watercourses, and 
covered with the thorny chaparral, was achieved without 
accident. We were some distance from the town when 
we remembered that we were without arms, and that con- 
sequently, should we meet any Indians, our safety must 
depend upon the fleetness and surefootedness of our horses. 
With such a stimulus the excitement became great, and 
I shall ever remember this ride for its extreme enjoyment. 
When we got on to the road of Tavalope, clear from the 
chaparral, we gave our steeds the rein. And along the 
deep bed of the stream, between steep rocks, and lighted 
by the glory of a Mexican full moon, we flew, while Don 
Guillermo, who took great pleasure in repeating poetry, 
recited the most beautiful verses of Zorilla's Don Juan 
Tenorio. Even this was characteristic. It was indeed a 
genuine Mexican ride, which cannot be imagined without 
Mexican scenery, Mexican ground, a Mexican sky, Mexican 
dangers, and above all Mexican horses. The surefooted- 
ness and endurance of these horses upon the roughest 
ground are unequalled. During hunts they will gallop up 
and down the steep mountain sides, and even take their 
riders at full speed over the jagged lava remains of a 

2 A 2 



356 SANTA EULALIA Book II. 

Malpais. 1 As I am now speaking of the superiority of 
Mexican horses, I will just mention that Don Guillermo 
once rode 90 leguas, or 270 English miles, in two days on 
one horse. 

The hunting parties which met almost every Sunday on 
the plain of Tavalope added much enjoyment to the many 
pleasant hours I spent in Chihuahua. We generally drove 
out six or eight miles, and then, leaving carriages and 
horses under the care of servants, we followed our game, 
and met again in the evening, each one bringing what he 
had shot. The river, the irrigation canals, and numerous 
ponds hidden among the long grass and trees and bushes, 
harbour innumerable ducks of many kinds. Geese are 
also found, and hares are abundant among the chaparral. 
We had all double-barrelled guns, and, for our own defence 
in case of need, a pair of revolvers; no opportunity, how- 
ever, occurred for using them. We generally brought 
home sufficient game to serve two households for a whole 
week. 

Accompanied by a naturalized Frenchman, who is much 
interested in the mines of the State, 1 visited Santa Eulalia, 
a small mountain town, of the celebrated mines near which 
I have already spoken. From the east side of the Cerro 
Grande, crossing a plain about ten miles in breadth, you 
arrive at a steep mountain-chain, in a narrow valley of 
which lies Santa Eulalia. Its aspect is very remarkable. 
The lofty mountains are covered with grass, yuccas, cacti, 
and in places with a thick coating of agaves like magnified 
turf. The buildings, one-storied mud huts with flat roofs, 
are going to ruin ; but a large portion of the population, 
amounting to 1500, lives in rocky caves, the entrances to 



1 Malpais (or bad ground), a place I lava or basalt ; in short, an old lava- 
covered with blocks and fragments of j bed. 



Chap. X. AND ITS SILVEE MINES. 357 

which are visible at the foot of the rocks enclosing the 
valley. Water fails greatly during the dry season, and 
the smelting operations, for which it is indispensable, 
cannot be carried on. It was principally on this account 
that thesmelting-works were transferred from hence to Chi- 
huahua, where there is a sufficient amount of water-power. 
Good drinking-water is also much needed at Santa Eulalia, 
that of the place being rendered poisonous by metallic 
particles. I can offer no opinion as to the correctness of 
this assertion. Two facts are however certain, — first, that 
gentlemen from Chihuahua, who are obliged to remain 
there, drink no water but what is fetched from Chihuahua ; 
and second, that I fell ill the day after my arrival, with 
gastric fever, which my companion attributed to my having 
incautiously drank some of the water of the locality. The 
greater number of the inhabitants, however, are too poor 
to have water fetched twelve miles daily. They have 
probably other springs nearer in the mountain. 

This illness must be my excuse if my remarks upon this 
interesting place are few and insufficient. I was taken 
ill the day after my arrival, but during the forenoon visited 
the Guadalupe mine, which had been shortly before opened 
high up the mountain. The silver-ore, consisting princi- 
pally of chloride and bromide of silver, 1 appears in a layer 
which enters the mountain almost horizontally among 
caverns and stalactitic formations, between the limestone 
strata of the mountain. The composition of these ores was 
as little understood here as at Chihuahua ; my previous 
definition of their chemical nature has, however, since been 
confirmed by an analysis undertaken by Dr. Genth in 
Philadelphia. To what period the limestone strata belong 



Partly the pure chloride, partly Ernbolit. 



358 ' SANTA EULAL1A Book II. 

I cannot say. The formation of the ore seems to have de- 
pended upon the contact of the limestone with the masses 
of porphyry, both repeatedly alternating. In smaller pro- 
portion the layer contains argentiferous galena, and in 
larger masses the carbonate of lead, associated with car- 
bonate of iron. 

These ores were formerly smelted in the valley, and the 
silver gained by cupellation. I witnessed the whole process, 
but have not sufficient technical knowledge to make any 
remarks upon it interesting to the professional metallurgist. 
The process is certainly very imperfect. The ore is con- 
veyed from the mine on the backs of mules, and the labour 
is so hard that many of these animals die in consequence 
during the year. The scenery is wild and peculiar. From 
the height I saw the shafts of several disused mines on the 
opposite mountain, and in the valley the ruins of a place 
called Magellan. 

In the afternoon I explored the mountain on the south 
side of the valley, and followed a stag up to its summit 
without being able to get a shot at it. Here also I observed 
the contact of limestone with porphyry. The latter had, 
in places, been extensively decomposed, and regenerated ; 
in other places its surface was covered with fibrous 
radiated quartz as if with a glaze. Near the summit there 
is a deep ravine, the precipitous sides of which were co- 
vered with the gigantic lily-bearing steins of the yucca — 
an enchanting sight wherever seen. Yuccas, dasyliriums 
opuntias, and agaves covered the mountain sides, with 
many thorny shrubs, acacias, koberlinias, berberis tri- 
foliolata, &c, growing among them. It was the last day 
of March, and all plants which could subsist without the 
summer rains were in full spring beauty. 

Within a space of six English square miles all the moun- 



Chap. X. 



AND ITS SILVER MINES. 



359 



tains around Sta. Eulalia contain silver. More than two 
hundred mines have been worked here, and more than 
fifty of these have shafts above six hundred feet in depth. 
Several of them are so extensive that it takes a whole day 
to pass through one of them. 

When these mines were at the height of their prosperity 
a tax of two grains of silver upon each mark was levied 
to build the cathedral of Chihuahua and the church of 
Santa Eulalia. The first cost 600,000 dollars, the last 
150,000, and a surplus of 150,000 remained to the build- 
ing fund when both were completed. The amount of this 
tax shows the produce of the mines to have been 14,500,000 
marks of silver. 1 I have already stated that from 1703 
to 1833, namely 130 years, according to a census taken 
at the end of this period, a mass of silver amounting to 
43 millions of marks was raised from the mines of Santa 
Eulalia. 

Since 1833, when these mines ceased to be regularly 
worked, up to this period, the inhabitants of the small 
town have always managed to find enough in them for 
their maintenance. People who, without knowledge or 
scientific resources, find their livelihood in the abandoned 
mines, are called in Mexico, Gambusinos. The whole 
population of Santa Eulalia is of this class. To give up 
working a mine is, according to Mexican law, to give up 
all right to it ; and, still more, any one who will declare 
that he can work a mine more profitably than the person 
then holding it, may compel him to give it up, upon pay- 
ment of a rent in proportion to the amount of ore hitherto 



1 According to Wislizerms, the cathe- 
dral of Chihuahua was seventy-three 
years huilding, and cost 800,000 dollars. 
The above statement is taken from a 
more extensive paper respecting the 
gold and silver mines of the State of 



Chihuahua, intended for the Mexican 
Congress, which was communicated to 
me in the MS., and which, translated 
into English, I published in the ' New 
York Tribune,' August, 27, 1853. 



360 OKES OF SANTA EULALIA. Book II. 

raised. Most of the mines of Santa Eulalia, according to 
this definition, may be considered as without owners, and 
may be taken by any one, whether a native or a foreigner, 
who is able to work them. The gentlemen of Chihuahua 
who, during my residence there, built new smelting-works 
on the Junta, found it more profitable to buy the ore at 
Santa Eulalia than to work a mine on their own account. 

As regards their composition, the ores of Santa Eulalia 
are the poorest in the State of Chihuahua, and it has been 
only by the enormous quantities of the ore that such large 
results have been obtained. It seldom contains more than 
three ounces of silver to a carga or 300 lbs. of ore. 

The following day I was compelled by the fever to keep 
my bed, and was obliged to return to Chihuahua in a 
carriage, being unable to sit my horse. 

Some longer journeys which I undertook from Chihuahua 
will form the subject of the next chapter. 



Chap. XL STATE OF CHIHUAHUA. 361 



CHAPTEE XL 

Western Region of the State of Chihuahua — Jesus Dominguez — " Novedades " 
— Canada del Fresno — Different Character of Vegetation — Plastic Beauty 
of Mexican Scenery — Santa Ysabel — Mexican Country People — Hospi- 
tality and Simplicity of Manners — Romance in North Mexican Life — 
The Table-Land — The Bufa de Cosihuiriachic and the Sierra Madre — 
Orological Remarks — Pass and Valley of Coyachic — Lakes on the Table- 
Land — The Laguna de Castilla and its Environs — Valley of the Rio de 
Papigochic and Watershed to the Pacific Ocean ■ — Villa de la Concepcion 
and other Places in the Valley — Statistics of the Mines of Jesus Maria — 
The Tarumare Indians and their Customs — Cretaceous Formation in the 
Sierra Madre — Diminution and Restoration of the Mexican Population — 
Episodes of Mexican Life — A Robber Chief — A Mexican Free-thinker — 
Unnecessary Excitement — Return to Chihuahua. 

In the beginning of February a most welcome opportunity 
arose for me to visit the almost unknown regions in the 
extreme west of the State of Chihuahua. A merchant of 
the town, whom I have already mentioned as Don Guil- 
lermo, had to seek the payment of some old debts in that 
distant region, and invited me to accompany him upon his 
journey. The request was not quite devoid of self-interest, 
for the journey was dangerous, and a trustworthy com- 
panion desirable. Not only did the road pass through the 
most notorious haunts of the Apaches, but through dis- 
tricts rendered unsafe by other bands of robbers. Where, 
in Mexico, the Indians cease, more civilized robbers begin, 
and some places are exposed to the plundering attacks of 
both. Don Guillernio's purpose of collecting money was 
especially adapted to draw upon us the attention of some 
cavaliers of an older fashion, who were in the habit of 
performing their heroic deeds in the neighbourhood of the 



362 JESUS DOMINGUEZ. Book IT. 

Villa de la Concepcion, and on the road to the mines of 
Jesus Maria, perhaps simply to correct the injustice of 
Dame Fortune at the gaming-table. In proportion, how- 
ever, to the degree of courage needed for snch a journey 
was the flattering nature of the invitation to me ; and, as I 
had been looking out for a travelling companion who would 
afford me some security in an excursion to the Sierra Madre, 
I could return the same compliment to DonGuillermo which 
he had paid me, and therefore agreed to his proposal. A 
carriage with two excellent horses formed our means of 
locomotion. Don Guillermo drove, while in dangerous 
places I sat next him with my gun on my knees, ready to fire. 
I had a double-barrelled gun, and he the same, with the ad- 
dition of a rifle, in the carriage. Each of us, besides these, 
had a pair of Colt's six-shot revolvers of the largest calibre. 
A servant, the same Jesus Dominguez of whom I have 
already made honourable mention in the foregoing chapter, 
rode before our carriage, and was armed with a rifle and 
two single-barrelled pistols. Altogether we had thus 
thirty-two balls always in readiness. 

Jesus Dominguez was of as much value to us as an 
escort of ten common servants. Courageous men prefer 
in this country a small but trustworthy travelling party to 
a large caravan. Our servant would have been scalped 
alive rather than have deserted us ; and I would willingly 
give the reader some description of his character. He 
was as gentle as a child, and this gave a great charm to 
his large and powerful frame. His temper was hot, but 
completely under control, and on this account he would 
never be tempted to touch spirituous drinks. Withal he 
was a humourist and a philosopher, and liked to make 
his remarks upon any phenomena. He was an excellent 
mimic : he could perfectly imitate the Indians in the 



Chap. XI. JESUS DOMINGUEZ. 363 

different scenes of their savage life, in the tones of 
their voices, their actions and expression ; and enjoyed 
the fun of frightening an occasional party by such 
acting, and then laughing at them. He had gained 
this exact knowledge of the Indian character during 
his captivity among them as a boy, and through fre- 
quent intercourse with them afterwards. His father and 
brother were murdered by the savages ; but he was so 
fortunate as to please Gomez, who at that time was the 
most dreaded chief of these savages in northern Mexico. 
Gomez became attached to the boy, gave him his freedom, 
and brought him back himself close to the town of Chi- 
huahua, where, in taking leave of him, he gave him the 
good advice to avoid the Apaches for the future. " When 
you are on a journey," said the old chief to him, " avoid 
the road. Find a path a few hundred yards from the 
road, for there the Apache lies in ambush and will kill 
you." Jesus Dominguez had, however, evidently Indian 
blood in his veins. His complexion was dark brown, and 
his black hair hung straight and stiff about his broad 
face. 

We left Chihuahua on the afternoon of the 3rd of 
February, and took the road to Santa Ysabel, a small 
town or village, lying about thirty miles to the south of 
the capital. Immediately upon quitting the town, the road 
passed over rocks of porphyry and fragments of basalt, then 
through the worn and deeply-cut beds of torrents, which, 
though now dry, bring down floods from the mountains in 
the rainy season. Even here the traveller must be on his 
guard, for many a poor unarmed woodcutter has been shot 
here by some concealed Indian, while harmlessly following 
his loaded mule. This evening we had accomplished but 
twelve miles, and bivouacked close to the buildings of the 



i 



364 



NOVEDADES. 



Book II. 



Kancho del Fresno. 1 A bright fire was soon burning, 
at which Jesus Dominguez prepared our supper, and round 
which other travellers soon assembled. The evening 
passed in cheerful conversation, the principal subject of 
which was the danger of the road. A man from Rio 
Conchos, who was driving a small herd of cattle to the 
town, brought " Novedades " 2 from the south of the State. 
A number of men from Chihuahua, who were on the road to 
Durango, had been attacked by a band of Comanches, and 
several lives had been lost and 3000 dollars in specie. An 
old man from the Villa de la Concepcion, where we were 
going, told of much mischief perpetrated by the Apaches 
quite lately in that locality, and showed the scars of gunshot 
and arrow wounds which he had received in encounters 
with the savages. Indeed, I was the only one who had 
not suffered either directly or indirectly by them. 

The next morning we had to pass the Canada del 
Fresno, one of the most notoriously dangerous places 
in the State of Chihuahua. This is a valley of about four 
miles in length, between hills covered with dwarf oaks, 
ascending gradually to the higher table-land. In this pass 
the Apaches have so constantly availed themselves of the 
advantages of the ground that, without exaggeration, no 
hundred steps of the whole four miles can be trod, upon 
which the blood of some unfortunate traveller has not been 
shed. A governor of Chihuahua, once travelling through 



1 A " Rancho," in this neighbourhood, 
is the name of an estate, or of the build- 
ings on one, especially devoted to 
cattle-breeding ; while an agricultural 
estate is called a " Labor." These are 
smaller estates, though generally ex- 
tending over several square miles. 
Large estates are called "Haciendas." 
Several ranchos and labores may belong 
to one hacienda. 

2 "Novedades," "news," means gene- 



rally in this country misfortunes, espe- 
cially such as are caused by the Indians. 
" No tiene u. novedades ?" " Have you 
any news ? " is the same as " Have you 
had any ill luck ?" or "Are you well ? " 
and is the usual greeting of travellers 
on the road. " No hay novedades," 
" There is no news," really means that 
"the road is safe. We have seen no 
Indians." 



Chap. XI. CANADA DEL FKESNO. 365 

it, found the way so beset with crosses as to resemble a 
graveyard ; and he ordered them to be taken down and 
burned, saying that the sight of them made men cowards. 
But since that time the number of these Memento Mori 
has quite sufficiently increased to make travellers familiar 
with the thought of death. Fortunately, we reached 
the higher ground without accident, where herds of cattle 
were grazing, and from whence we could see the fine 
buildings of the hacienda de los Charcos. This beautiful 
and valuable estate belongs to Don Estanislao Porras, 
whose name I have already mentioned in a foregoing 
chapter. He was at this time erecting a strong building 
at the upper end of the Canada, in which travellers might 
find shelter and safety from the savages. The building 
was almost completed as we passed. But four weeks 
later, when we had returned safe and unmolested to Chi- 
huahua, it was seized in the night by a band of Apaches, 
who attacked from it, in the early dawn, a passing caravan, 
and murdered from twelve to fifteen persons. In the 
savannah above, we saw another evidence of Don E. Porras' 
enterprising activity. It was a canal he had cut from the 
mountains to the north-east, as far as the road, a distance of 
at least eight or ten miles, in order to irrigate the inter- 
vening land, which is all his property. But the Apaches 
had actually made use of this as an intrenchment, in order 
to reach the road unperceived, and, lying in the hollow, had 
thence shot down some passing travellers. 

Before proceeding farther in my narrative, I must 
remark that the character of the vegetation in the south- 
west portion of the State of Chihuahua changes greatly. 
The chaparral of the steppes of the Rio Grande, which ex- 
tends north-west down the Gila to the Californian, and 
south-east to the Mexican gulf, disappears from the moister 



366 CHARACTER OF VEGETATION. Book II. 

regions at the eastern base of the mountains which border 
the table-land to the west. It would be useless here to 
look for cacti and yuccas^ for agaves, dasyliriums, the 
mezquite bush, and the larrea, the long, thorny rods of 
the fouquiera, the prickly leafless koberlinia, the artemisias, 
chenopodiaceous shrubs, and the other characteristic plants 
of the chaparral region. Instead of this strange-looking 
vegetation, the high plains are covered with a thick carpet 
of the finest grass, the mountain sides and hilly slopes 
with groves and woods of evergreen oaks, giving a park- 
like appearance to the savannah, while the high peaks of 
the Sierra Madre are clothed with dark masses of pine 
forest. Steppes and deserts, and barren rocks, with their 
stiff prickly plants, and grey thorny shrubs, only appear 
again in the lower region of Sonora, at the western base of 
the sierra. 

The plain above the Canada del Fresno exhibits one 
of the characteristic scenes of northern Mexico, which, 
though seen hundreds of times, can never fail to strike the 
intelligent traveller with its peculiar beauty. Nature hides 
none of her charms here, and leaves nothing either to 
fancy or to feeling wherewith to adorn the sharply-defined, 
bare reality. No groups of trees — shading the soft, green 
turf — tempt thought to wander to the happiness of a peace- 
ful home. No stream or brook carries our imagination 
down the valley to the distant land its waters seek. No 
cloud floats over our head. The atmosphere here forms 
no portion of the landscape, — it is only the empty space by 
which it is bounded ; while the distant mountains enclose 
the picture so harmoniously, and so perfectly, that one 
forgets to think of what exists beyond them. It is the 
purely plastic beauty of the scene which affects the feelings 
so powerfully. A broad, flat plain, surrounded by bare 



Chap. XI. SANTA YSABEL. 367 

mountains, is spread before us. The contrast between 
their rugged alpine forms and the smooth plain before them 
is softened by the intervention of a beautiful curve at their 
base. No disturbing details of form, no trivial decoration 
is to be seen. The whole, as an artist would say, has 
been carried out by nature in the strict purity of the 
historic style. And truly the whole picture is historic ; 
the plain record of great natural events. 

The road through the savannah was as flat as a table. 

Don Guillermo, jokingly, tried how fast, in case of need, 

the horses could go, and put them to their full speed. 

Our carriage flew over the grassy plain with the rapidity 

of a railway train. The plain was soon behind us, and 

we found ourselves at the entrance of a mountain pass 

through which the road descends into the valley of Santa 

Ysabel, over porphyry, trachyte, diorite, and basalt rocks, 

with scattered fragments of blue and green chalcedony. 

Here, by the side of a small stream bordered by poplars 

and willows, the green wheat-fields showed the value of 

irrigation, while the catkins of the willows, and the swelling 

buds of the poplars told of the influence of a February 

sun. Later in the year, when these trees shade the stream 

whose transparent waters flow over many-coloured pebbles, 

—-when the cornfields wave and the meadows around the 

town are decked with flowersy — Santa Ysabel must indeed 

be a delightful spot. The valley is surrounded by high 

grotesquely formed mountains. The northern group of 

these was formerly the haunt of an Apache tribe. When 

these savages held their feasts at night the hollow sound 

of the Indian drums could be heard in the town, and hence 

these rocks are still called the Sierra del Tambor. The 

place was originally founded as a mission for the Tarumare 



368 VILLAGE OF CARRETAS. Book II. 

Indians, and its position, like all similar places, was 
admirably chosen. 

In the afternoon, while Don Guillermo prosecuted his 
affairs, I took my gun in order to shoot some wild ducks 
in the cornfields by the stream. Here, among the poplars 
and willows, I came suddenly upon a man who looked at me 
with as great astonishment as I should have felt had I seen a 
piece of the moon fallen down. " Where does your honour 
come from ?" he asked in a timid tone. " From Europe," 
I replied jokingly. " Ahora ? — ahorita ?" " Now ? — just 
now?" he asked again. "A short while since," was my 
answer. " But where do you come from now ? just now?" 
" From your town." " But how did your honour get 
there ?" " In a carriage." " With whom ?" " With Don 
Guillermo." " Ah ! with Don Guillermo of Chihuahua," 
he said now, apparently satisfied. "I know his honour 
very well ; and since your honour has seen the world, you 
can perhaps tell me something of a young man, a relation 
of mine. We sent him to a person in Doiiana for four 
years to learn four trades ; and six years have gone by and 
we have heard nothing of him." 

Our next day's journey was short. We left Santa 
Ysabel at noon, and reached Carretas at four. This village, 
or small town, lies in a well cultivated valley, the small 
river in which joins that at Santa Ysabel, whence united 
they fall into the Kio Conchos. This valley, like other 
valleys of this region is a deep indentation in the huge 
alluvial masses which cover this table-land, and is pro- 
bably 500 to 600 feet lower than their average level. We 
remained here the whole of the next day, Sunday, and I 
cannot speak too highly of the hearty hospitality which 
we received from Don Felipe and his family. Indeed, 



Chap. XI. ROMANCE OF NORTH MEXICAN LIFE. 369 

nothing can exceed the friendliness and unaffected kindness, 
the good breeding and politeness of the Mexican country 
people. In almost every respect they are superior to 
our German peasants, and distinguishing the never ungrace- 
ful naivete of their natural habits from coarse indecency, 
such as I have witnessed among the former, I must say 
the Mexican ranchero, or farmer, is much the more 
refined of the two. Puritanical prudery is no rule, but this 
has nothing in common with the above comparison. Beds 
were prepared for us the first night at Don Felipe's in the 
large saloon, and I remarked to Don Guillermo that I 
was tired, and wished the family would leave us alone that 
we might betake ourselves to rest. "You may wait then 
a long time," he replied, " for they stay on purpose to see 
us undress," and actually we were obliged to go through 
this ceremony in the presence of the Senoritas, who, with 
the closest attention, yet with perfect propriety of manner, 
watched every movement and every article of our dress 
till we laid ourselves down, when they wished us good 
night. 

On Sunday evening the principal men in the village 
met in the house of our host, and, as usual, Indian 
adventures were related. One of these was so remarkably 
characteristic of the wild romance of North Mexican life 
that it greatly interested me, and I will repeat it here. 

Some years ago an Apache chief, who had received a 
christian education in the house of a priest in the State 
Sonora, made himself a terror to this neighbourhood. He 
made use of his power to read and write as any civilized 
robber chieftain would have done. He intercepted the 
post from the mining localities, opened and read the 
letters, in order to learn when goods and silver were to be 
conveyed, and thus was able to arrange his plans success- 

2 B 



370 THE TABLE-LAND. Book II. 

fully. At last, with his band, he fell into an ambush laid 
for him by some Mexican troops, and all were destroyed. 
This Indian lived with a Mexican girl whom he had stolen 
from her parents 5 house. She took part in the light with 
these troops just like an Indian woman. Her country 
people called to her that she was recognised, and that she 
had nothing to fear if she would surrender. But she 
rejected the proposition and fell with the last of the band, 
having previously killed several soldiers with her arrows. 
On a later journey through the continent, I was told a 
similar circumstance by an inhabitant of Mesilla (on the 
Rio Grande) whose niece had been stolen by an Apache 
band, and now lived willingly with them. This man had 
met her at Santa Barbara with the chief of the Copper- 
mine Apaches, then at peace with the North Americans, 
who assured him that there was no obstacle to the girl's 
return to her friends ; but the girl rejected the proposi- 
tion with disgust, and, when her uncle eagerly persuaded 
her, refused to speak to him. " Y era muchacha cristiana !" 
" and that was a christian girl !" adding indignantly as he 
told me the tale, " pero indiada, apachada !" " but turned 
Indian, turned Apache!" - 

We continued our journey the next day. The road up 
the side of the plateau is very steep. When we reached 
the plain we saw the village in the midst of its green corn- 
fields far beneath our feet. On the other side of the valley 
the eye followed the horizontal line of the opposite plateau, 
above which isolated mountain groups raised their bare 
rocky peaks against the dark blue sky. 

On the plain our road lay in a north-westerly direction, 
rising higher and higher for ten or twelve miles. The 
plateau here is a sloping plain. Before us rose two conical 
mountains like a double island on the horizon. The road 



Chap. XI. THE BUFA DE COSIHUIBTACHIC. 371 

follows the depression between them, called the Puerto de 
Coyachic (Pass of Coyachic). At first one does not see 
why, for the table-land around seems as level as the floor of 
a room. But nearer the two peaks, the plain is intersected 
by deep crevices, which are not visible till you are quite 
close to them. To the left of the twin mountains, a 
portion of the horizon intervening, rises another isolated 
mountain. This is the Bufa de Cosihuiriachic. Dr. Wisli- 
zenus w 7 as the first who marked the geographical position 
of this mountain peak ; but European geographers err in 
making it one of the main peaks and vertebrae of the Sierra 
Madre. The mountain rests upon the plateau, above 
which it is not much raised, at the edge of a deep ravine, 
from the bottom of which it may certainly have a con- 
siderable altitude. But above, it is entirely surrounded by 
the plain of the plateau and thus completely separated 
from the chain bearing the name of Sierra Madre, and 
from the axis of which it stands considerably to the east. 
It belongs in fact to the isolated groups occurring between 
the Sierra Madre and the town of Chihuahua. 

As regards this mountain chain and its celebrated name, 
I shall endeavour farther on, in a general survey of the 
orology of North America, to rectify the prevailing errors 
on this head. I will only now remark that in Mexico 
(including New Mexico and California) there are several 
mountains called Sierra Madre, not in the slightest degree 
connected, but which geographers have incorrectly placed 
in contact, and that the Sierra Madre mentioned at this 
part of my journey must be defined as a mountain girdle, 
consisting of thickly set parallel chains, which forms the 
western orolographical limit and edge of the Mexican 
table-land, but which, in a hydrographical sense, stands 
on the slope to the Pacific Ocean ; since the rivers passing 

2 b 2 



372 OKOLOGICAL REMARKS. Book II. 

through this region to the Gulf of California rise on the 
eastern side of the chain, on the table-land itself, and 
only reach the western side by forcing their passage 
through this mountain girdle. This definition agrees strictly 
with the terms used in the country, according to which the 
name of Sierra Madre is never extended to the chains and 
groups of a table-land. Indeed, these can in no respect 
be looked upon as spurs from that mountain barrier. 
On the contrary they mostly run parallel to it, rising from 
the plateau, like islands of an extensive Archipelago rise 
from the sea. 

According to Wislizenus, the Bufa de Cosihuiriachic 
has an elevation of 7918 feet above the level of the sea, 
and 1643 above that of the little town of Cosihuiriachic. 
As this is situated in a cleft of the table-land surrounding 
the mountain, at the depth of at least 700 feet, the 
summit of the mountain must be about 900 feet above the 
plateau, and the latter about 7000 feet above the sea. From 
hence, north-west to Cerro Prieto, the small lake of which 
lies on the broad watershed between the Mexican and 
Californian Gulfs, the level gradually rises. At Carre tas, 
on the contrary, it is lower, and at Santa Ysabel still 
lower. The plain of Chihuahua, as already mentioned, is 
only about 4600 feet above the sea level, and the Eio 
Grande, in a neighbouring portion of its course, has a 
fall, calculated at from 3000 to 4000 feet. Thus it fol- 
lows that, from the Kio Grande to the eastern base of the 
Sierra Madre, the general level of the table-land rises 
gradually for about 3000 or 4000 feet. 

To return to our journey. The road upon the slowly 
ascending plateau was so good that our horses took the 
eighteen miles to the foot of the pass of Coyachic in aconstant 
trot. The lofty plain exhibited very remarkable scenery. 



Chap. XL PASS OF COYACHIC. 373 

The level ground was covered with the finest grass. To the 
right and to the left were the first slopes of the declivities 
into the valleys which bordered the plateau on either side. 
Bushes and groves of gnarled evergreen oaks, about the size 
of old pear trees, covered these slopes, and, scattered over 
the plain, gave it the appearance of a park. To the west, 
nearly parallel with our road, extended a line of mountains 
— the Sierra de San Borja — covered with dark forest, and 
separated from us by a deep narrow valley, which at first 
could not be seen, the mountains oil the other side appear- 
ing as if standing on the same uninterrupted plain with us. 
The village or little town of San Borja lies in it ? and it 
is the same valley in the upper portions of which Coyachic 
and Cosihuiriachic are built. Wherever we could get a 
peep at San Borja, the sides of the valley were covered at 
regular intervals with small oak trees, giving them the 
appearance of an orchard of many miles in length. 

We arrived thus at the foot of the pass of Coyachic, 
where the road became more steep and rugged. There 
was no difficulty, however, in the ascent. Above, the 
scenery is extremely wild : grotesque rocks of porphyry, 
covered with grey, green, and yellow lichen, rise on each 
side in cliff and pinnacle, up to the very summit of the two 
peaks. Several kinds of oak, and pines with needles half a 
foot in length, grow on the ledges and in the crevices. 
The entrances of caves are seen in several places. 

As soon as the summit of the pass is reached, one looks 
suddenly down into a deep valley, or rather upon the other 
side of it, exhibiting a steep, rugged strangely-shaped 
cleft in an enormous alluvial mass, or conglomerate. It 
seems impossible for a carriage to get down into this abyss 
and to make its way out of it on the other side ; but the 
descent, which is well known to the drivers under the name 



374 LAKES ON THE TABLE-LAND. Book II. 

of Cuesta de Coyachic, is less difficult than might have 
been imagined. An enterprising and wealthy man, Padre 
Gallejo, curate of Coyachic, has had a road made at his own 
expense, proving himself at the same time to be a good 
patriot and a prudent speculator. When we reached the 
valley he sent a boy to require half a dollar from us as a 
toll. The appearance of the road down to the village, with 
its interesting old mission-house, the grotesque rocks and 
ravines of the plateau, with the mountain rising from it 
behind us, were altogether most singular. 

On the other side of the village we found in the valley a 
small "conducta" or caravan encamped, to which, as it 
was going in the same direction with us, we joined our- 
selves, in order not to encounter the dangerous passage of 
the Puerto de las Casas Coloradas alone. We started 
early the next morning with this party. The road ascends 
through oak woods in the broken ground of these clefts in 
the table-land. Their sides are so precipitous near the 
summit that a few steps bring you into what appears 
another country. From the wood, which ceases with the 
cleft in a sharp line, one enters upon a broad grassy 
plain, which branches off in the distance between different 
mountain chains and groups, and which contains a number 
of larger and smaller lakes ; some of these are not far 
from the road. Farther on, in a south-westerly direc- 
tion, the Laguna de los Llanos spreads its extensive surface 
at the foot of the distant mountains belonging to the Sierra 
de los Ojos Azules. To the north, at no great distance, 
yet not visible from the road, lies the Laguna de Castilla, 
the largest lake in North Mexico, surrounded by the richest 
pastures which, irrigated by warm springs, remain green 
winter as well as summer. I was told it was twenty leguas 
in diameter, which must, however, be an exaggeration. It 



Chap. XL LAKES ON THE TABLE-LAND. 375 

is, however, remarkable that this lake is not given in any 
maps, at least not in any which I have been able to see. 1 
Persons well acquainted with this lake and its environs told 
me that in places on its shores the land is hollow and gives 
way, so that man and horse may be swallowed up. The 
situation of the lake is geographically interesting, since it 
occupies the summit of a central part of the table-land. 
Round it are the sources of brooks and rivers flowing to 
the four quarters of the world ; south and eastwards into 
the Rio Conchos, and subsequently into the Rio Grande ; 
westwards into the Rio Yaqui, which flows into the Gulf 
of California; northwards through the Rio del Carmen, 
the Rio de Santa Maria, the Rio de las Casas Grandes, 
and other streams, into a succession of lakes — the Laguna 
de Encinillas, Laguna de los Patos, Laguna del Cande- 
lario, Laguna de Santa Maria, and Laguna de Guzman. 
This region, with all these lakes, is the most unexplored 
part of Mexico. 

We travelled with this conducta in a north-westerly 
direction over the table- land, approaching a mountain chain 
which begins in this locality and continues north-north-west 
till we at last passed it at the Puerto de las Casas Coloradas, 
the Pass of the Red Houses. We might have gone round 
the southern extremity of this chain ; but our companions, 
whom we followed, feared the lower region, called Bajio del 
Chato, notorious through the crimes of the Indian chief. 
The Pass of the Red Houses is scarcely of less evil repute. 
In several places we found the remains of waggons which 



1 Mr. Herman Ehrenberg completed i California, by Herman Ehrenberg, C. E. 
his map, which he published at San j From his private notes, and those of 
Francisco, from my sketches and note3, j Major Heintzelman, Captain Sitgreaves, 
which I have likewise sent to the War ; Lieut. Derby, Bartlett, Gray, Julius 
Department at Washington. See ' Map I Froebel, and others. San Francisco, 
of the Gadsden Purchase, Sonora, and , 1854.' 
portions of New Mexico, Chihuahua, and | 



376 WATERSHED OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN. Book II. 

had been plundered and destroyed by the Apaches. On 
the other side of the pass we came to the plain of Cerro 
Prieto, which is only a continuation of the table-land ex- 
tending round the southern base of the mountain. Here, 
for the first time, we came upon a portion of the real 
system of the Sierra Madre — a long mountain-ridge covered 
with thick and lofty pine forests. This joins the plain at 
Cerro Prieto, and bounds on the south-west a small strip of 
the table-land, which, enclosed to the north-east by the 
Sierra de las Casas Coloradas and its offsets, imprisons a 
small stream belonging to the watershed system of the 
Pacific Ocean for full sixty miles in a north-westerly direc- 
tion between these mountains. A small lake, already 
named as the Laguna de Cerro Prieto, lies on the water- 
shed. The plain surrounding it is a real Alpine prairie, 
into which the lofty pine- forest of the Sierra Madre descends. 
The village of Cerro Prieto lies to the south-west of the 
lake ; we left them to the west of our route. The water 
and its shores were covered with flocks of geese and ducks. 
We went on in a north-westerly direction along the above- 
named narrow strip of table-land. This forms at first the 
base of the valley between these two mountain chains ; but 
gradually, as the bed of the stream washes deeper into the 
alluvial ground, broad terraces are formed, the surface of 
which belonged perhaps originally to the declivity towards 
the Gulf of Mexico, while the worn river bed exhibits the 
first lowering of the ground towards the Pacific Ocean. 
The small stream, rapidly augmented in size by the moun- 
tain torrents, forms one of the branches of Rio Yaqui of 
Sonora. 

We spent a wretched night of hunger and cold near 
some inhospitable houses, called los Ranchitos, or the Huts. 
Passing the buildings of the deserted Rancho del Rosario, 



Chap. XI. VILLA DE LA CONCEPOION. 377 

the limits of which enclose a very beautiful territory, and 
through the village of San Antonio — where the valley 
becomes safer, and we saw the first herds grazing in the 
meadows — we arrived the following day at the Villa de 
la Conception, the most important place in the western 
portion of the State of Chihuahua. The Indian name of 
this small town, Papigochic, belongs to the Tarumare 
language, and means "Snipe town." The brook we had 
passed unites here with a considerable mountain-stream 
flowing from a lateral valley of the Sierra Madre. Thus 
augmented and continuing in a north-westerly direction, the 
Rio de Papigochic passes the villages of Santo Tomas, Tejo- 
logachic, Matachic, and Temosachic, and, between this last 
and Yepomera, breaks with a sudden turn to the west, 
through the Sierra Madre. 

This elevated valley forms the richest portion of the 
state of Chihuahua, and is looked upon as its granary. 
When there is drought on lower ground, rain never fails 
here, nor water in the rivers, for irrigation. The scenery 
is beautiful and the climate perfect. Snow and ice are 
not unknown in winter, but the cold is never severe ; and 
the heat in summer is not oppressive. The region is cele- 
brated for its excellent apples, which are sent as far as 
Sonora. A mule's load of this fruit, worth here 3 dollars, 
would be sold at Guymas for 40. Oranges are purchased 
in exchange for them. The celebrated mines of Jesus 
Maria, in the Sierra Madre, close to the frontier of 
Sonora, lie within a few days' journey from Conception, 
or the Villa, as it is here called, and are supplied with 
wheat, maize, &c, from hence. These mines, now greatly 
neglected, made the town of Conception formerly an im- 
portant place, and even now it contains much wealth. 
The merchants of Chihuahua still consider its inhabitants 



378 MINES OF JESUS MARIA. Book II. 

their best customers, and they have always a good day 
when a conducta from the villa arrives to make purchases. 
But here, as elsewhere, the facile but precarious acquire- 
ment of wealth by mining exercises an injurious influence 
on the morals of the place. Its inhabitants are the most 
determined gamblers in the whole State ; and as in other 
places a man's credit depends upon his good or bad specu- 
lations, as far as they may be known, so here it is influenced 
by the results at the gaming-table. " Will Don N. N. 
pay me ?" asks one man of business, in confidence, of 
another. " Yes, I think he will ; he won 5000 pesos 
yesterday," is the kind of answer. 

I will here state some particulars I learned from good 
authority respecting the celebrated mines of Jesus Maria. 

These mines, which yield auriferous silver ore, lie near 
the source of the Rio Mayo, in the very heart of the 
mountains. Some are worked exclusively for gold, as the 
Mina del Rosario, which occasionally has yielded 10,000 
dollars' worth of gold in a week. Still silver is the chief 
produce, but, on account of its constant admixture with 
gold, a marc of the silver of Jesus Maria is worth 10 
dollars at the mint of the country, while pure silver is 
worth only 8J. Among the many mines of this locality, 
that of Santa Ludubigen has been worked since the expul- 
sion of the Spaniards ; and in six months, from May to 
October, 1839, yielded a clear profit of 400,000 dollars. 
But the principal mine at Jesus Maria is the Santa 
Juliana. It has not been worked since the expulsion of 
the Spaniards, and is now full of water. According to 
competent judges, it would require 200,000 dollars to 
empty it and resume the works. The ores of this mine 
have never been found to contain less than 3 marcs, or 24 
ounces of silver, in a carga or 300 lbs. of ore, and have even 



Chap. XL THE TARUMABE INDIANS. 379 

held the unusual quantity of 40 ounces ; so that a mule's 
load of the ore was worth 400 dollars. Even now, 
although the mines are no longer worked, the town is 
supported by the results of the unskilled labour of nume- 
rous " gambusinos," who, having money advanced to 
them by capitalists, are bound to sell them the ore they 
raise, monthly, at a rate of 16 per cent, lower than that 
of the mint at Chihuahua. One man, who employed 
20,000 dollars in this kind of speculation, doubled it in 
a year. But though the mint at Chihuahua pays 16 per 
cent, more than the miner gets for his ore, it gives full 
20 per cent, less than its real value. It is easy, therefore, to 
see of what extraordinary results these mines are capable. 

We found a most hospitable and friendly reception in 
the house of one of the first men in the Villa de la Con- 
cepcion. Don Kafael, having remarked my desire to learn 
something of the Tarumare Indians, communicated several 
facts, which, connected with the results of other inquiries, 
appear to me worthy of being better known than I have 
reason to believe they are. 

First, I must premise that all civilized Indians in the 
State of Chihuahua are called Tarumares, although they 
are not all of the same race. The greater number of 
them, however, have one origin, and speak a common 
language, the grammar of which is well known, as a 
treatise on it, published in Mexico, still exists in print. 
Whether the language of the so-called Tarumares, who 
are not of the real tribe, though differing may have some 
affinity with the real Tarumare language, I cannot say. 
Here I speak of the genuine Tarumares. 

These Indians form a portion of the population of the 
Villa de la Concepcion, and of all the other communities 
in the valley; and all these places have the rights of 



380 THE TARUMARE INDIANS. Book II. 

Indian pueblos, although the majority of their present inha- 
bitants consist of " gente de razon/' " reasonable people," 
as the Spanish Mexicans call themselves, in •contradistinc- 
tion to the Indians. These Tarumares, although retain- 
ing their own language, have, however, given up the 
greater part of their old customs. But remnants of this 
nation exist in the more remote mountain regions, who, 
though calling themselves Christians, and standing in some 
degree of political connexion with the State, have still pre- 
served some portion of their own social system. Their 
land is held in common, and from time to time is redivided 
in proportion to the necessities and labour of each family. 
A certain portion is reserved for the exigencies of the old, 
the sick, and the helpless ; is cultivated by the united 
labour of the tribe, and the produce stored in a public 
magazine. These stores, as also those for whom they are 
collected, are under the care of especial functionaries of 
both sexes, called tenanches. One tribe of the Tarumares 
still exists, however, in some of the valleys of the Sierra 
Madre, near the celebrated mines of Batoseagachic, which 
retains, unchanged, its old Indian religion and social 
habits. These people, though not exactly inimical to the 
Spanish Mexican race, abstain from all intercourse with 
strangers. If a traveller enter their dwelling, they leave 
it ; if they see him coining, they avoid him ; if he speaks 
to them, they give no answer, even if they understand 
him ; and the largest sum will not tempt them to sell 
him anything. A traveller might die of hunger in one 
of their villages unless he appropriated what was abso- 
lutely necessary, a proceeding which this singular people 
permits. The characteristic stubbornness and reserve of 
the Indian race appear, among these, in their most rugged, 
though passive form. 



Chap. XI. CHALK FORMATION IN THE SIERRA MADRE. 381 

I heard much of certain national games of the Taru- 
mares and other Pueblo Indians of the States of Chihuahua 
and Sonora. Whole tribes or communities have foot- 
races, continuing from sunrise to sunset, the aim of which 
is to see who shall hold out longest. Each party rolls a 
ball before them over hill and valley. I was told that 
when they sink exhausted, they open the veins of their 
legs, and that women stand at certain parts of the road 
ready to pour w T ater over those who faint. 

We left our carriages at Concepcion, and continued our 
journey down the valley on horseback. The first village 
on the road is Santo Tomas. Its situation is full of geolo- 
gical interest. The eastern sierra rises here to its greatest 
height, the Cerro de Santo Tomas, at the foot of which the 
valley is crossed by a bank consisting of layers of a chalky 
limestone enclosing flints, through a narrow cleft in which, 
with precipitous sides, the stream has forced a passage. 
Beyond this singular threshold it passes by the village of 
Tejologachic into the open valley which bears the same 
character as mentioned above. We hastened forward 
without any stoppage, and passed the night in Matachic. 
Two days previously the Apaches had stolen 150 head 
of cattle, and almost the whole male population of the 
village, joined by that of Tejologachic, Santo Tomas, 
Temosachic, and Yepdmera, had started on an expedition 
against the savages. Between Matachic and Temosachic 
we stopped at a rancho belonging to a friend of Don 
Guillermo. We found old Don Bias in a pitiable con- 
dition. An Apache had run him through the body the 
week before with a lance ; yet it seemed to me that he 
would recover from the dangerous wound. Upon our 
return we slept at the same rancho, and it struck me that, 
were the Indians to destroy some of its inhabitants, their 



382 THE PEON SYSTEM. Book II. 

places would soon be filled by those who remained. " Que 
muchacheria !" " what a housefull of girls !" exclaimed 
Dominguez, as upon our arrival we were surrounded by 
a dozen young women ; while the court swarmed with 
children, of whom these were the mothers. I could not 
discover a proportionate number of fathers. But be that 
as it may, large families are common in this country. At 
Santo Tomas I saw a very young-looking woman who was 
the mother of eight children. 

Temosachic was the farthest extent of our journey. The 
river here breaks to the west through such a narrow cleft 
of the Sierra Madre that the opening is scarcely per- 
ceptible, and one wonders to where it goes. The village 
of Yepomera, a few miles farther north, is the last in this 
region of the State of Chihuahua. An uninhabited dis- 
trict, with the ruins of buildings destroyed by the Apaches, 
with wild cattle, the remains of former herds, extends 
towards Corralitos, Casas Grandes, and Yanos, the most 
northern limits of the State, whither a rarely-used road 
leads from hence. There are many springs in the valley, 
near Temosachic and Yepomera ; and some of these are 
sufficiently warm to promote the growth of the grass in 
winter, a great advantage for the cattle of these villages. 

The course of my narrative affords me an opportunity 
of showing how the peon system influences the existence of 
the Mexican people. 

A respectable man in Temosachic had from time to 
time bought goods of Don Guillermo in Chihuahua, who 
had never hesitated to give him credit for a few hundred 
dollars, and the debt was always paid at the expiration of 
the term. The man died, and his son came to Chihuahua 
with a letter, written apparently by his dying father, in 
which he requested the merchant to show his son the same 



Chap. XI. EPISODES OF MEXICAN LIFE. 383 

kindness he had displayed to him. Don Guillermo will- 
ingly granted the request, the young man took goods for a 
few hundred dollars : three years elapsed, no payment was 
made, and nothing was heard of the young man, and now 
his creditor appears suddenly in Temosachic. " Where 
does Natividad Andrada live ? " asked Don Guillermo of 
the first person we met as we rode into the village. 
" There is his mother's house," was the answer. We rode 
on to the open door, at which a respectable-looking old 
woman appeared. " Is Natividad at home ? " " No, 
Sir." "Is he in the neighbourhood?" "He is in the 
village." "Let him be called; I must speak to him." 
In two minutes he came. He was a young man of more 
than middle height, well formed, and with good regular 
features, on which an irregular life now began to show its 
traces. " Natividad," said Don Guillermo to him, " as 
you have not come to me, I have been obliged to come to 
you. Why have I never seen you again in Chihuahua ? " 
" I was unable to pay your honour." " Can you pay me 
now?" " No: I am poor; I have nothing." " Do you 
know how much you owe me ? " " Not exactly." " Three 
hundred dollars." " It is so, since your honour says so." 
" Cannot you pay me at least a portion of it ? " "I 
have nothing." " Then you must come with me and 
work for me." "I am ready; I believe your honour's 
demand is just." " Then get ready : I cannot wait." 
" I am ready ; I wear all I possess." This consisted of 
an old straw hat, a coarse cotton shirt, wide unbleached 
cotton trowsers, sandals, and a gay-coloured ragged woollen 
blanket, with which the poorest man gracefully covers his 
rags. 

During this conversation, which deeply affected the fate 
of several persons, we had not got off our horses, and the old 



384 EPISODES OF MEXICAN LIFE. Book II. 

woman had not spoken a word. She now burst into tears, 
and, turning to Don Guillermo, said, " Your honour 
claims your right ; but how miserable am I in my old 
age ! He is my only child. But I have long seen that 
he would not be the comfort of ray latter years : he has 
not followed his father's example. But will not the gen- 
tlemen dismount and enter my poor house ? " she added, 
with the politeness which the lowest of the Spanish race 
never forget. " Yes," said Don Guillermo, as we entered 
the small clay hovel, " your husband was a worthy 
man. How has his son fallen into so miserable a posi- 
tion ? " "Ah, Sir! he has gambled away everything." 
" I should have given him no credit but for the letter of 
his father: how could he recommend a son whose bad 
character he must have known ? " " Ah, Sir, my husband 
never wrote that letter ; my boy forged it at the instiga- 
tion of his bad companions." " Then it is right that you 
should be punished," said Don Guillermo to the young 
man : " and you, Seiiora," he continued to the mother, 
" must comfort yourself. As the lad now is, he can never 
give your honour any help. I will take charge of him. 
I will teach him to work and to live like a respectable 
man, and the time may come when he will return to you 
an estimable character. You will go with me to Texas," 
he then added, addressing himself to the son. " Where- 
ever your honour pleases ;" and after a short stay, during 
which the old woman regaled us with " tortillas " and 
" frijoles," and Natividad took leave of a young woman 
and kissed a child, we left the place, and set out on our 
return . 

It deserves especial notice that this transaction, which 
did not occupy half an hour, was settled without the inter- 
vention of any public authority. 



Chap. XI. EPISODES OF MEXICAN LIFE. 385 

A similar transaction, with regard to another debtor of 
Don Guillermo's, took place on our way back to the Villa 
de la Concepcion. Guadalupe Vargas was a sly, satirical, 
but at the same time careless, good tempered fellow. 
Later, in a confidential hour, when we were sitting together 
under the shadow of an oak in the Californian mountains, 
he acknowledged to me that for some time he had been 
one of a robber band. Don Guillermo was probably not 
aware of this circumstance, when he trusted him with some 
hundred dollars' worth of goods to begin business as a 
hawker. The goods were easily sold, and the money as 
easily gambled away, and Guadalupe cared little for his 
debt, till Don Guillermo surprised him as suddenly as he 
had done Natividad. In a few words, Guadalupe was 
just as willing as his fellow-debtor to follow his creditor as 
a peon, though he looked upon his fate rather differently. 
When he heard that he was to accompany his master to 
Texas, he asked permission to see his old mother once 
more, who lived in a neighbouring village. "I wish to 
have my mother s blessing upon this long and dangerous 
journey in a strange country," he said, with a mixture of 
sanctimonious piety and careless banter. Natividad, who, 
with all his vices, possessed a more serious and affectionate 
disposition, sighed deeply. "My mother/' he said, with 
real, repentant sorrow, " will not bless me." " What do you 
sigh for, man ? " exclaimed his companion in misfortune ; 
" repentance is of no use. Begin a new life ! Does not 
Don Guillermo, a distinguished cavalier, open the door of 
the world to you ? What have you known of the world as 
yet ? Nothing ! Now you will get acquainted with it ! 
You will see the United States ! You will be a man ! 
You will pay your debts ! and when, after an absence of 
some years, you go back to your native place, your mother 

2 c 



386 EPISODES OF MEXICAN LIFE. Book II. 

may be dead, but your children will be grown big, and 
who knows but their father may become Alcalde of Temo- 
sachic ? " All this is so thoroughly Mexican that I cannot 
refrain from placing it before the reader as distinctly as I 
am able. Both these men, with whom I subsequently 
travelled many thousand miles, and of whom I must 
therefore speak, are instances of the good and evil qua- 
lities of the Mexican character; and, although the first 
might be clouded by the last, yet I can truly say that later 
they were both distinguished by their perfect good will, 
their untiring activity, and irreproachable honesty. Their 
fate is typical of that of their nation, — a nation which, 
in the whole history of the Spanish race, has been in the 
worst possible position for moral development ; but which 
possesses good natural powers, which in the farther history 
of the New World will not be lost. 

But I must return to Temosachic. While we were in 
the house of our present servant, a young woman came in 
to inquire for her husband, who had gone to Chihuahua, 
and had remained longer than he had fixed. The man's 
name was Don Jose Jesus de la Luz Miramontes. What 
harmony of sound — but what empty noise in a name! 
In another country, the man would have been Dick, or 
Jack, or Bill. It is a positive misfortune for a people to 
have too beautiful a language, and the English and the 
North Americans would assuredly not have developed 
their energy of character could their language make pre- 
tension of being musical. 

The appearance of the young woman I have just men- 
tioned struck me very much. She had light hair, blue 
eyes, and a complexion as delicate and fresh as that of any 
German blonde. This type is not unfrequent in the 
" tierra fria," the higher and cooler regions of North 



Chap. XI. A ROBBEK CHIEF. 387 

Mexico. I do not venture to assert whether this shows 
the influence of climate and the power of adaptation in 
the human constitution, or the reverse, — the immutability 
of types and races. 

When we remounted to leave Temdsaehic, it was ex- 
tremely painful to me to see that Natividad was obliged to 
follow us on foot, and in a quick trot to keep up with our 
horses. But I could make no alteration, and could only 
watch with surprise how, like a faithful dog, he trotted on, 
now before and now behind us, and then again at our side. 
Vargas joined him at the villa, and, though at first his 
speed was insufficient, he soon taught his legs to move, 
when he saw that he must either keep up with our carriage 
or run the risk of being scalped by some wandering Apache. 
This treatment of the two men was assuredly cruel ; but 
it is not considered so in Mexico. An extraordinary 
rapidity and endurance in running is common to all 
Mexicans of the lower class. In the next chapter I shall 
bring forward some instances of almost incredible perform- 
ances in this respect. 

On our way back, we stopped a night in the house of 
the Alcalde of Santo Tomas. We had been told that this 
man, although the first official in the place, was literally a 
robber chief. Don Guillermo asked him jokingly at table, 
if he knew the character imputed to him. " Ah/' he 
replied laughing, " I know all about it. It is a mistake. 
The Christian name as well as the surname of the chief are 
the same as mine, and his wife has the same name as mine ; 
but it is another man, and he lives in Cerro Prieto." This 
was actually the case. It was the band to which our friend 
Guadalupe, by his own account, had formerly belonged, 
and about which he, at a later period, gave me many 
details. " Your honour might have travelled safely there 

2 c 2 



388 A MEXICAN FREETHINKER. Book II. 

with me," he said; " none of them would have hurt you 
in my company." 

Santo Tomas was originally a Mission of the Jesuits, 
and all the Patres are buried in the church of the place ; 
among them the founder of the Mission, which must have 
been established at the beginning of the seventeenth century. 
The Alcalde showed us the church and took us into the 
vaults, where Dominguez had preceded us. When we 
entered, we found our servant standing before the em- 
balmed body of the canonized Padre, which he had taken 
out of its sarcophagus and placed upright against the 
wall, talking to it in the following manner. " So you are 
a saint : well, you can't have had much sense ; you have 
had too small a scull for that." And indeed the scull was 
remarkably small. The Alcalde laughed. We took care 
that the sacred remains should be carefully restored to 
their resting-place, and helped to close the tomb with its 
stone. 

Proceeding farther homewards we came by Cerro Prieto, 
leaving the small lake near it, this time, to the east. 
Among others, Don Guillermo visited here the robber 
chief; and had it been feasible we should have brought 
him away also as a peon, for he too was one of Don 
Guillermo's debtors. But great folks cannot be treated 
like small ones ; and, besides being captain of a brave band, 
the man was one of the first inhabitants of the place. 
However he received Don Guillermo with the greatest 
courtesy, and the business was settled with many polite 
expressions from both parties. Of course there was no 
payment, and indeed had it been made we should probably 
have had to relinquish it again on the road. 

We now came to Los Llanos, a village by a lake of the 
same name, which I have already mentioned. Don 



Chap. XI. EETUEN TO CHIHUAHUA. 389 

Guillermo had here a debtor, whom he would have gladly 
brought away as a peon ; but the man refused to go, and 
the judge before whom the matter was brought decided in 
his favour. The whole business, with the judge's decision, 
was settled in an hour. 

In passing the notorious Bajio del Chato, we had a 
slight alarm. A flock of geese and cranes rising in the 
distance made us think that they had been disturbed by 
Apaches. Our infantry, consisting of Natividad and 
Guadalupe, was quickly armed, and our cavalry, consisting 
of Dominguez, sent on to reconnoitre. He was at once in 
his true element. Throwing his hat into the carriage, and 
binding a red kerchief about his rough hair, he set spurs 
to his horse, and with his rifle in his hand galloped directly 
towards the suspicious spot. A depression in the ground 
hid him from our sight, when sidewards at some little 
distance we saw a horseman who, with violent gestures, 
made us all sorts of incomprehensible signs. As, from his 
position, he could see our servant, we felt sure that he had 
fallen into the hands of the Indians. We could not desert 
him. Don Guillermo drove furiously, and our foot 
soldiers followed breathless, as fast as they could. But, 
when we reached our man, he was standing quietly near a 
stranger who had spoken to him on the road. It was this 
person who had startled the geese and cranes and frightened 
us. But even such insignificant circumstances as these, 
are characteristic of a North Mexican journey. On the 
20th we arrived safe and well at Chihuahua, our journey 
having occupied seventeen days. 



390 THE MESILLA VALLEY. Book II. 



CHAPTER XII. 

March of General Trias' Brigade from Chihuahua to El Paso, and the Author's 
Return by the Sandhills — Cause of this Military Movement — The 
Mesilla Valley — Accompanying Circumstances of Mexican Politics — 
Proclamation of the Garrison of Chihuahua — Don Angel Trias — De- 
parture of the Brigade — In what Capacity accompanied by the Author — 
March, and Camp Scenes — Important Intelligence — Burning Prairies 
and Insolence of the Indians — El Sause — Sheep herded with Artillery 
— Hacienda de Encinillas — Ojo de la Laguna — Plan de Alamos — El 
Carmen — -Punta de Agua, Disappearing ftiver — Alamos de Pena and 
Reappearing River — Carrizal — Forced March of Eighty-four English 
Miles in Twenty-four Hours — El Paso — Electric Bed — Return — Ojo 
de Samalayuca — Drive over the Sandhills, and Natural Flower-garden of 
gigantic proportions. 

In April, 1853, while Mexico was disturbed by one of its 
numerous revolutions, it appeared as if the most trifling 
frontier question would have sufficed to produce actual 
hostilities between this republic and the United States. 
Difficulties arose in a mixed commission of both republics, 
in settling the boundary line, the result of which was to 
make the large village of Mesilla, with a portion of the 
valley to the right of the Rio Grande, the subject of a 
serious struggle. This small territory has, under the un- 
suitable name of the Mesilla valley, gained a reputation far 
beyond its merits. Although its area does not exceed a few 
English square miles, and does not form a separate valley, 
still it belongs to the most beautiful and fertile portions of 
the valley of the Rio Grande. The dispute was, however, 
subsequently adjusted, by the Republic of Mexico, under 
the Presidency of Santa Ana, agreeing to sell to the United 
States a strip of their northern frontier, to which, in addi- 
tion to a desert of some 300 or 400 miles in length, the 



Chap. XII. PLAN OF JALISCO. 391 

beautiful plain of Mesilla, with the village, belonged. 
Before this agreement, however, some North American 
speculators had endeavoured to set in motion less peaceful 
means for~ obtaining this desired annexation ; and the 
governor of New Mexico was misled to issue a proclama- 
tion, in which he threatened to take possession of Mesilla 
by force. 

By this step the hot-headed governor of New Mexico 
came in contact with the equally hot-headed governor of 
the State of Chihuahua, then placed in circumstances re- 
commending decisive action. 

The revolution, which dislodged the President Arista 
and for a time placed old Santa Ana at the head, had been 
preparing during the latter half of the year 1852. The 
outbreak occurred in October, in Guadalaraja, and the 
" Pronuneiamiento," or revolutionary programme, under 
the name of the Plan of Jalisco, was rapidly spread over 
all the States of the Mexican Federation. In January, 
Arista was compelled to retire from the Presidency, and 
a few months later Santa Ana assumed the highest autho- 
rity. During the interval the President's chair was vacant, 
and there were many perhaps who might have thought 
themselves able to take possession of it. 

As an entire stranger to Mexican affairs, and being but 
just arrived in the country, my surprise was excessive at 
learning early one morning in December — it was the day 
before Christmas-Day — that the government of Chihuahua 
had been dismissed by a M Pronunciamiento" of the garrison, 
and that General Trias, hitherto military commandant of 
the States, had been summoned to act as provisory governor. 
No one opposed the step, which was accomplished without 
loss of blood, and though individual enmities might 
produce some animosity, General Trias was not the man to 



392 DON ANGEL TRIAS, Book II. 

uphold any unworthy party spirit or persecution, so that 
this revolution in Chihuahua was the most harmless and 
amiable one it has ever been my fortune to witness. 

Public life was naturally full of excitement, and more 
interesting to a stranger than under the usual course of 
events ; but the European would err greatly in thinking 
that such, a political change in the less civilized Mexican 
territory must necessarily assume a harsher form than in 
Europe, justly proud as she is of her refinement. Chi- 
huahua at least, where the change was deeply felt by all, 
could have shamed by her example, the party-spirit of 
many German states under similar circumstances. The 
controversy was conducted by the press with vigour, but 
without coarseness, Five newspapers appeared at that 
time in this small town, and their numbers, with other 
temporary papers, were always announced daily in the 
streets. The inhabitants from time to time were roused 
by the bells tolling in the night, that they might learn some 
important intelligence, some new success which had at- 
tended the principal party. Thus, on January 31, it was 
told through the town that General Trias had been re- 
quested to come from Guadalaraja and take the command 
of the army of the Pronunciados, then marching towards 
the capital, and that, in case of success, powerful support 
for the presidency was promised. 

Don Angel Trias is an interesting man, well known 
both in Mexico and in the United States. At this time 
I was introduced to him by Colonel Langberg, and spent 
an evening with him in animated conversation about 
natural history, literature, and the latest political events 
in Europe. Referring to the geology of the country, he 
showed me a well-preserved grinder of a mastodon, which 
had been lately found on the eastern side of the Sierra 



Chap. XII. DEPARTURE OF THE BRIGADE. 393 

Madre, near the Villa de la Concepcion. General Trias 
understands German well, and he has Schiller's and 
Goethe's works in his library. He speaks French and 
English fluently. I was told some curious anecdotes of 
his youth, and of the circumstances which led to his 
having undertaken some extensive journeys ; and I will 
repeat them here, without, however, making myself 
answerable for their accuracy. A youthful adventure 
involved results for which his confessor refused him absolu- 
tion, referring him to the Bishop of Durango. The Bishop 
of Durango took the same course, and referred him to the 
Archbishop of Mexico. The Archbishop sent him to the 
Pope at Borne, who enjoined upon the young Mexican 
a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and penance at the Holy 
Sepulchre, where at last he received absolution. On his 
return through Turkey, and up the Danube, he visited 
Germany, and remained for a time in some of its principal 
towns. 

When the intelligence reached Chihuahua that the 
Governor of New Mexico intended to take possession of 
Mesilla, General Trias immediately put in motion that 
portion of the Mexican army under his command, and 
without waiting to be empowered by the then disorganised 
central authority, set off, April 7th, with his brigade from 
Chihuahua to El Paso. 

I found an inducement to accompany this expedition in 
a fixed capacity. For the transport of its stores and am- 
munition, the detachment had hired of my friends, Mayer 
and Co., ten of the largest waggons which had formed our 
caravan from the United States, with about 110 mules, 
muleteers, drivers, and waggon-master, for the sum of 3000 
dollars ; and I undertook to represent the firm during the 
journey, and after its arrival at El Paso. The personal 



394 MARCH, AND CAMP SCENES. Book II. 

character of the general, and my acquaintance with several 
officers of the brigade, Colonels Langberg and Justiniani, 
made this a pleasant task, the fulfilment of which gave 
me an opportunity of seeing a part of the State which I 
had not yet visited, for the prevailing drought on the 
direct road to Carrizal compelled us to go round by El 
Carmen. 

The detachment consisted of 500 infantry, 50 or 60 
cavalry, and 6 or 8 guns. The larger number of the 
soldiers were well dressed, and looked respectable; but 
there were some of doubtful character and appearance, 
who resembled more nearly a band of gipsies than any 
portion of the military power of a state. This rabble, 
with the crowd of women and children which always hangs 
on the skirts of a Mexican army, gave our march and 
camp scenes a most motley and grotesque appearance. 
Here was one whose whole uniform consisted of a shirt 
and a straw hat ; another who had wrapped his naked body 
in a gay-striped blanket, and adorned his stiff hair with a 
regular shako ; a third, who having only a pair of trousers, 
had found even these superfluous, and had rolled one leg 
up above the knee. Here a woman with one child in her 
arms, and another at her side, following the long day and 
night marches without complaint ; there another carrying 
two large gourd-shells full of water, balanced on each 
hand above her head for miles from the last spring, ready, 
in spite of weariness, to share her supply with the thirsty. 
The devotion and endurance of these women are wonderful ; 
for it is solely their desire to be near their husbands, and 
to assist them on the road as well as in the camp, which 
induces the desperate resolution of accompanying them 
upon a march, during the first forenoon of which, many of 
the soldiers were struck down bv sunstroke. 



Chap. XII. MAKCH, AND CAMP SCENES. 395 

Still, in spite of all the difficulties of the march, our 
camp was always a scene of merriment and good humour. 
Three bands assisted in keeping up cheerfulness ; and we 
cooked, and ate, and drank amid talk, and joke, and 
laughter. The conversation of the Mexicans is witty, and 
their range of ideas is far from being coarse or low. Two 
of our teamsters, one of New Mexico the other of Chi- 
huahua, had a conversation full of sarcasm. " In New 
Mexico," I heard the former say, " the people make good 
verses — componen buenos versos — and you can't do that." 
" True," said the one from Chihuahua, " the people of 
Chihuahua are not so poetical, but they have more know- 
ledge of the world" — " No es tan poeta la gente de Chi- 
huahua, pero sabe mas del mundo." I should like to 
know on what high road of Germany a couple of wag- 
goners would have chosen such subjects of conversation ? 
One day, going round the camp, I saw a soldier reading 
a book about the French Revolution. He entered into 
conversation with me about it, and then passed on to the 
circumstances in which Mexico was placed, of which he 
took a gloomy view. 

We halted for noon at the Eancho del Sacramento, 
the scene of a battle little calculated to inspire our 
soldiers with hopeful feelings. Dinner was spread on the 
ground near the buildings for me and the mayor domo 
of our train, and we had just seated ourselves in Turkish 
fashion, when a pig ran grunting among our dishes. 
Their contents were scattered about, a cock, quickly per- 
ceiving his opportunity, called his dames around him, 
and before we could turn ourselves about, every trace of 
our meal had vanished. The next day, however, made 
amends for this misfortune. The general, with the most 
precise attention to etiquette, sent an officer to invite me 



396 IMPORTANT INTELLIGENCE. Book II. 

to dine with him in his tent. The party was cheerful and 
unconstrained, and the conversation quite on a par with 
that of men of the same class in Europe. I was asked my 
birthplace in Germany — " Rudolstadt." " Ah, Schwarz- 
burg-Rudolstadt," remarked one of the officers. " There is 
also a principality Schwarzburg-Sondershausen." I looked 
surprised. " Do you think we Mexicans are savages, who 
know nothing of geography ? " he added laughingly, 
as he remarked my surprise. The knowledge of this 
Mexican, as regards Germany, went so far that he had 
heard of the old and younger lines of the house of Eeuss. 

On the 14th we were encamped at Punta del Agua, a 
very interesting spot, when a Chihuahuan courier arrived 
with despatches from Mexico, the capital. They con- 
tained the intelligence that Santa Ana was president, and 
that he approved the expedition for the protection of 
Mesilla. Our camp immediately became a scene of fes- 
tivity. A band played the whole evening before the 
General's tent, and the soldiers, though with no relaxation 
of discipline, were in the highest spirits. Some who, in 
spite of the prohibition, had ventured to play at cards 
were severely punished. While the general came to the 
entrance of his tent, and himself gave some of the soldiers 
wine in his own silver cup. I cannot take upon myself to 
say whether the rejoicings at Santa Ana's elevation were 
sincere or not. 

The audacity which the Indians displayed during the 
march of so large a body of soldiers proves how difficult 
it is to restrain them. As soon as our encampment for the 
night was chosen, the cavalry had to ride in all directions 
in order to clear our neighbourhood from them ; but as 
soon as it became dark, the grass was on fire at some little 
distance all round us. Almost without exception, we had 



Chap. XII. SHEEP HEEDED WITH ARTILLEEY. 397 

an illumination every night by the burning of the prairie. 
Fortunately the grass in this region is neither thick nor 
long, or we should have been often in danger, and, as it 
was, we were several times in great anxiety as to the 
safety of our ammunition. We encamped the first night 
near the buildings of the Rancho del Sause, which belongs 
to the hacienda of Encinillas. On the morning of that day 
the Apaches had murdered a man there. A flock of 6000 
sheep were grazing here, under cover of two pieces of artil- 
lery, which, one on each side the flock, were driven up 
and down the plain. A few weeks later, however, as I 
returned from El Paso, the space before the buildings was 
covered with dead and dying sheep. Nothing remained 
of the large flock ; and the guns were without horses. 
The women came out to us weeping and lamenting. A 
band of Apaches had attacked the flock, killed the shep- 
herds, put to flight the artillerymen, driven the larger por- 
tion of the flock into the mountains, and for amusement 
had speared about 100 — a pleasure which these savages 
never deny themselves on such occasions. A few days 
afterwards, these savages were in their turn surprised by 
the inhabitants of the village San Andreas, the stolen 
sheep retaken, and sixteen or eighteen Apache scalps 
brought away in triumph to Chihuahua. In May I under- 
took a journey from Chihuahua to the Presidio del Norte. 
On the second day we arrived at the Hacienda de 
Bachimba, where we found its inhabitants in the greatest 
state of excitement. The Apaches had just murdered on 
the road, quite near, a party of men, women, and children 
— in all fourteen — who were returning from the warm 
baths at Julimas. The bodies of four women were found 
pierced by lances, stripped, and with their hair tied in a 
knot ; the children had been dashed against the rocks ; 



398 OJO DE LA LAGUNA. Book II. 

the men had been shot with arrows, which probably struck 
them before they perceived their danger. This was the 
revenge of the Indians for their defeat by the men of San 
Andreas, and the continuation of their murderous attack 
upon Sause. 

From this rancho, the route of the brigade diverged from 
the direct road, which I had already travelled, to Carrizal. 
Leaving this to the right, we turned towards the principal 
buildings of the Hacienda de Encinillas, containing an 
entire village, with a church, and continued our march on 
the west side of the lake, while the road runs on the east. 
From the 10th to the 1 1th we rested near a spring at the 
north-west limit of the lake, by the ruins of a deserted 
rancho. The spot is called Ojo de la Laguna — Spring 
near the Lake. We remained here half the next day, for 
we had 42 miles before us without water, and these had 
to be accomplished without stopping, through the night. I 
took advantage of the opportunity to examine the country. 
The chaparral in the neighbourhood of the camp was one 
of the characteristic plants of the North Mexican Steppes, 
but I had not hitherto seen it so prevalent and so vigorous. 
It is the tepopote — an Ephedra, whose stiff, green, leafless, 
broomlike twigs, like those of the Spartium junceum, grow 
half as tall as a man. Pretty spring flowers blossomed 
in other places, dwarf asclepias, Oenothera, gilia, &c. &c. 
The lower plain, on a level with the lake, is marshy, and 
its banks are covered with reeds, among which the ground 
is covered with soda. It is difficult to reach the water, 
as you sink in the ground among the reeds, but I managed 
to secure an avocet and some other water-birds, which I 
shot here. Ducks, divers, water-hens, strand-snipes, plovers, 
snipes, bitterns, herons, falcons, and ospreys, flew in such 
numbers around me, that I literally did not know in what 



Chap. XII. DISAPPEAEIXG EIVEE. 399 

direction to fire. The plain in which this lake lies is sur- 
rounded by steep and mostly bare mountains. Pine forests 
are said to exist in the valleys of the western chain. Alto- 
gether this spot is remarkably characteristic of some of the 
peculiar modifications of North-Mexican nature. 

We arrived by dawn the next morning at the Plan de 
Alamos, a well-watered grassy plain, most grateful to our 
eyes, surrounded by steep and bare mountains. A brook as 
clear as crystal, and bordered by yellow mimulus in blossom, 
flowed through the rich grass. The country round, not 
yet revived by the summer rains, still looked grey and 
dead, in the midst of which this watered plain lay like a 
green island. I followed the brook for about 500 paces, and 
came to two large circular basins in which the springs 
bubbled up. 

Passing over a dry and dusty plain, on a higher level, 
we came into a green meadow valley bordered by shady 
trees, through which a rapid mountain stream flows. The 
village of El Carmen, near which some silver mines were 
formerly worked, lies contiguous to it. One of the mills, 
with its great waterwheel in good preservation, and smelt- 
ing works, still remain. These mines are said to be by no 
means exhausted, but they share the fate of so many of the 
mines in this region. The mountains around are bare, but 
the sierras to the west appear to be covered with wood. 
This valley would be a desirable and peaceful abode, were 
it not for the dangerous vicinity of the Apaches who haunt 
the adjacent mountains. The river breaks on the north- 
east, through a narrow cleft from the valley, into a plain in 
which poplars and willows mark its course till it disappears. 
The place is called Punta del Agua — end of the water. It 
was here that we received the intelligence of Santa Ana's 
elevation to the presidency. 



400 FORCED MARCH — EL PASO. Book II. 

We continued our march through a district without water, 
covered with withered grass, till — at the foot of a rocky 
hill — poplars and willows again appeared, among which a 
small river flowed. It rises not far from this spot, and is 
said to be, I know not how correctly, only a reappearance 
of the Rio del Carmen. The place where it again seeks 
the light is called A amos de Pefia. While I stood here 
to fish, I saw the fresh track of Indians and deer. 

From this place we came to Carrizal, where we fell 
into the usual road between Chihuahua and El Paso. 
Having already described this locality I shall have but 
little to say respecting our farther march. 

At Carrizal we learned that we should find no water 
either at the Charcos del Grado or at the Cantarezio, and 
we were therefore obliged to prepare for a forced march of 
a very hazardous extent. Asa preparation for it, we took 
a whole day's rest at Ojo de Lucero. At dusk in the 
evening the brigade commenced its march, which, with two 
short interruptions, it continued for 24 hours, till we 
arrived the following evening in the dark at Guadalupe, 
on the Rio Grande. During this terrible march I saw the 
foot soldiers, with the women and children, keep up for 
hours in a trot w r ith the cavalry, the artillery, and the 
baggage waggons. At the two halting-places it was dis- 
tressing to see the poor exhausted creatures coining slowly 
and painfully on. But to lag behind was to die, if not 
from hunger and thirst, yet by the blood-thirsty Indians 
who followed us like a pack of wolves. The brigade 
accomplished 28 leguas, or 84 English miles, in these 
24 hours ! Water-casks were sent to meet us five or six 
miles before we reached Guadalupe. 

On Sunday, April 24th, the brigade entered El Paso. 
The gardens and fields around the town were at this season 



Chap. XII. ELECTEIC BED — KETUKN. 401 

in their fullest beauty. The whole scene was exceedingly- 
picturesque, and would have yielded an artist subjects for 
numerous pictures. 

The first indications of the approaching rainy season 
appeared during our sojourn in El Paso, towards the end of 
April. Hitherto the sky had been clear, but now the clouds 
collected dark and heavy. We had thunder and lightning, 
but no rain, and the sky again became clear. At night I 
was completely frightened, by the electric fire which appeared 
at every movement I made on my couch, in my travelling- 
carriage. I had two woollen blankets over me, and as I 
separated these the sparks flew about me, cracking and 
snapping, and lighting up the whole inside of the carriage. 
When I took hold of the blanket sparks came from the ends 
of my fingers, and I felt a slight pricking. After a time this 
ceased, but it returned again after I had laid still for a while 
under my blankets : beneath me I had a buffalo's skin. 

My commission terminated April 30. I requested of 
the general an escort of ten soldiers for my journey back, 
which was immediately granted me. Thus, in some degree 
tranquillized as to our safety, we set off on the evening of 
the above-named day. Our waggons were light, and we 
therefore resolved to take the much shorter road over 
the Sandhills— los Medanos — as the natives call them. We 
then began to ascend to the right from the valley, drove 
through the night, and arrived the next morning in good 
time at the last watering-place, before our entrance into 
this American sahara in miniature. 

The spring of Samalayuca is a beautiful and delightful 
spot ; a small oasis covered with numerous interesting 
shrubs spreading round a clear spring. Numberless doves 
flitted among them ; and flocks of quails came to drink at 
the water's edge. 

2 D 



402 DKIVE OVEK THE SANDHILLS, Book II. 

If the African Sahara has been compared to the sea, 
the little Mexican desert of the Medanos may be likened 
to a lake. A body of shifting sand lies between limestone 
hills, bounded like a lake, but with a surface in waves like 
those of the ocean. Those, however, who have seen the 
snow-fields extending between the pinnacles of the Alps 
can form a still better idea of its appearance. The 
wind which has driven the sand here to form hills of 
a hundred feet in height, produces the same curves and 
hollows, and segments, as those which are seen in the snow- 
drifts of Mont Blanc and Monte Rosa, while the sharp 
peaks of the Sierra de la Rancheria and the Sierra del 
Candelario, may be well compared with the pinnacled 
heights of the Alps. 

We left the watering-place in the afternoon and reached 
the Sandhills at the commencement of night. The road 
from the spring passes first over limestone, then for a short 
distance sandstone appeared. Whether the shifting sand 
of this desert is supplied from this source, or has any other 
origin, I cannot say. On the border of the sand we left 
half our waggons, in order to give our whole mule power to 
the rest. I remained with a portion of our forces to protect 
these. The day had been hot, the night was bitterly cold, 
ice formed on our water vessels, and, with my feet deep in 
the sand, I felt exactly as if I were standing in snow. My 
feet were quite benumbed, and I feared they would be 
frost-bitten. We dared not light afire, lest it should attract 
the Indians. Even when the mules returned after mid- 
night to fetch us, a five-hours' fatiguing march scarcely 
restored warmth to my feet. The toil of this road is very 
great. With the wheels sinking into the sand as far as 
their axles, the waggons have to pass over the short but 
steep acclivities and declivities of the ground, with occa- 



Chap. XII. AND NATURAL FLO WEE- GARDEN. 403 

sional hills apparently 100 feet in height. The pedestrian 
sinks almost up to his knees in the sand, and, where the 
ground rises, slips back almost as much as he advances. 
The shouts of the drivers, the cracking of their whips, the 
deplorable cries of the mules, the night, the cold, the weari- 
ness, —all combined to make it a dismal scene. The next 
morning,, by daybreak, we arrived thoroughly exhausted 
at the so-named Mezquite Alto, a tree which marks the 
limit of the Sandhills. Here, in the warmth-imparting rays 
of the morning sun, we sank down upon the sand into deep 
sleep. Our mules were afterwards driven back to Sama- 
layuca to be watered. 

I have but one more characteristic locality and scene to 
describe, on our long journey back to Chihuahua. 

The road continues from the southern limit of the Sand- 
hills, over the elevated plain, between the Sierra del Can- 
delario and the Sierra de la Rancheria, and from which 
the view is remarkable. Yucca trees, with their gigantic 
lily-bearing stems, rose from the hard ground, covered with 
sharp fragments of porphyry, jaspar, and limestone, while 
the horizon was studded with mountain groups of every 
possible shape — horns, combs, peaks, and pinnacles. The 
scene was like magic, as if awakened out of some former 
age to the present time, — a flower-garden, in short, for a race 
of giants. 



404 RETUKN TO THE UNITED STATES. Book II. 



CHAPTEE XIII. 

Return to the United States — From Chihuahua to the Presidio del Norte — 
Magnificent Desert Scenery — The Presidio and its Environs — The 
Norteiios — Leaton's Fort — An Episode of the Middle Ages — Orological 
Features of the Country from the Presidio to San Antonio de Bexar — 
Details of the Journey — Watering-places — A Cuguar Lair — El Saucillo 

— Porphyry Terrace of San Estevan — Ojo del Berendo — Puerto del 
Paisano, and Ojo del Paisano — Ojo del Leon — Breakfast with a Cuguar 

— Agua Delgada, and Road from El Paso — Ojo de Ahuancha — Ojo Escon- 
dido — Vegetation at the end of May — The Rio Pecos — Post from El Paso 
and bearded Nursemaids — 'Life Oak Creek — Howard Springs — Strayed 
Buffalo — Trees and Shrubs between Pecos and Devil's River — Valley of 
this last — Wild Scenery — Indian Brutality — Gloomy Wilderness — The 
Devil's River again — Old Hut and terrible Recollections — Character of 
the Country farther to the East — Abundant Game — Military Station — 
First Settlement on the Road — Return to Civilization — Stay at San 
Antonio — German Settlement on the Upper Guadalupe — Sudden Rise of 
Texan Rivers — Dangerous Adventure — Indianola — Return to New York. 

The trade in the interior of North Mexico is in such a 
primitive condition that remittances for goods are almost 
always made in coin. The time, therefore, arrived, when 
my friends had to send some cartloads of Mexican dollars 
to the United States : the consignment was to go via 
Texas, and I determined to take this opportunity for 
returning to the East. Our caravan was headed by Don 
Guillermo, of whom I have spoken in former chapters. 
It consisted of seven waggons and about 100 mules, with a 
proportionate body of men ; Don Guillermo considering it 
advantageous to have a surplus of Mexican servants with 
the mules, who, on their return to Chihuahua, would 
become drivers, as it was intended to bring back a fresh 
transport of goods. 

The preparations were soon made. The money was 



Chap. XIII. MAGNIFICENT DESERT SCENERY. 405 

sewn into wet bullock-hides in parcels containing 3000 
pesos (dollars), and packed into two of the waggons ; the 
other five were loaded with maize for the mules, and pro- 
visions for ourselves, and on the evening of the 12th of 
May our caravan took the road to the Presidio del Norte, 
by the ascent of the Cerro Grande. We were accom- 
panied by friends from the town, till night compelled 
them to return, 

We reached the Presidio on the 20th. The road passed 
through a desert country on the grandest scale, affording 
the naturalist a field for the most interesting observations. 
The Canon del Ojito, a pass between the plain of Mapula 
and that of Bachimba, deserves the closest attention of the 
travelling geologist, as it seems to give the key to the 
formations of this region. Travelling quickly past, and 
limited to the road, I could only judge from a dis- 
tance. Near, there were only alluvial heaps, with dry 
crevices and ravines, on the precipitous sides of which a 
white and a red variety of the mimbre (chilopsis) stood in 
full blossom, and the yellow tufts of the acacia filled the 
air with its violet perfume. 

I have already related the outrages committed by the 
Apaches at the Hacienda de Bachimba but an hour before 
our arrival. Seeing the buildings at a distance, I had 
ridden on before our caravan. When I arrived, I saw the 
men and women collected on the flat roof of the principal 
building, apparently much disturbed, the men endeavouring 
to mount a gun of small calibre, and I immediately learned 
what had taken place. It was by the merest chance that 
I escaped the band. 

Between Bachimba and the warm baths of Julimas, we 
passed over a plain covered with yuccas in full bloom, the 
most enchanting sight which Mexican scenery can display ; 



406 THE PRESIDIO Book II. 

their gigantic pannicles, covered with the richest profusion 
of large white bells, rising from a circle of stiff, radiant 
leaves, on a stem of ten to twelve feet in height. 

The village Julimas is a bathing-place of great repute 
in Northern Mexico, and we found here a numerous 
assemblage of our friends from Chihuahua. Among 
them was the apothecary Jaurrieta, a learned man, 
according to whose analysis the water of the spring con- 
tains a considerable amount of chloride of lime. There 
are seven different springs, varying in temperature from 
31° to 35° of Reaumur. An enormous agave grew on 
the margin of one ; but, not having taken its exact mea- 
surement, I fear being disbelieved if I name its apparent 
size. The warm steam from the adjacent spring was 
probably the cause of its unusual development. 

The Rio Conchos, near which Julimas is situated, is a 
clear stream, in which soft-shelled turtles are found. One 
measuring li foot in diameter was caught by one of 
our servants. It happened that a French gentleman 

living in this part of Mexico, the Marquis de V , was 

then in our camp, and he offered to make us some turtle- 
soup of superior quality. We possessed the ingredients he 
required, namely, Bordeaux, Madeira, vinegar, and spices, 
and, as the Marquis was a skilled gastronome, we had a 
dish, literally fit for a king ; and which was not the less 
enjoyed from being eaten out of tin plates, and lying 
on the ground. Our people afterwards, but with con- 
siderable trouble, caught a diver, a beautiful podiceps. 
The bird is unable to fly, and endeavoured to escape 
its pursuers by diving for long periods. 

Beyond Julimas, we had to make two forced marches, 
both of about ninety English miles, without water. The 
intervening watering-place, called El Chupadero, was a 



Chap. XIII. AND ITS ENVIRONS. 407 

well, which we were obliged first to clean out, before 
we could reach the water with a bucket. In order to 
water our animals, we dug a hole, trod the ground down 
hard, lined it with stones, and then filled it by buckets 
from the well. It required more than half-a-day's work 
before the animals could have a drop of water. 

The limestone about this spring contains many fossils. 
But I had no time to observe them, for, under our cir- 
cumstances, our horses and mules were of more im- 
portance than any question of science. While we encamped 
here, some Mexicans arrived who had been trading with 
the Comanches in the neighbouring territory of Texas. 
They had three boys with them, whom they had ransomed 
from the savages, and were taking to their families, trust- 
ing to reap some advantage on their outlay. 

The road from Julimas to this spot presented a succes- 
sion of the grandest desert scenery. Now over bare plains 
surrounded by steep mountains of the most grotesque and 
rugged character ; then through rocky denies ; through 
the dry beds of some wild mountain torrent, or down 
declivities covered with yuccas and lechuguilla agaves in 
full blossom. We travelled through the night, and the 
charm of these mountain scenes by moonlight is beyond 
description. By daybreak we descended over a limestone 
hill to the deserted Bancho de la Mula, the bare solid 
rock of the dark rough mountain-chain frowning upon us 
through thousands of these giant plants. How little could 
the boldest fancy realise the beauty of such striking 
scenes. The most daring imagination of a scene-painter 
would never have ventured upon such a picture, even for a 
fairy tale ! White nyctaginese grew by the road-side, 
shedding the sweetest perfume from their long tubular 
blossoms. 



408 THE NOBTENOS. Book II. 

The country was scarcely less barren or bleak as we 
approached the Presidio del Norte by the Eio Grande. I 
never, either then or subsequently, saw an inhabited 
region which so strongly retained the character of a 
savage wilderness. The Eio Conchos unites its clear 
waters here with the muddy stream of the Eio Grande. 
The junction of these rivers is surrounded by rocks and 
remnants of the alluvial masses, consisting of clay and sharp 
broken stones, and forming the lowest terrace of the 
valley. Afar, the eye rests on nothing but gloomy moun- 
tains of the most irregular and varied forms, while near, a 
high, thick, thorny chaparral obstructs the road and the 
view, as if guarding a paradise. 

It is difficult, in the orological confusion of this region, 
to designate its general character in a few words. Thus 
much, however, may be said: — the valley of the Eio 
Grande is closed at the Presidio del Norte by a mountain 
rampart, like a bar pushed across, through which a narrow 
inaccessible chasm gives passage to the river ; many 
falls occur in its course, which is said to be indescribably 
wild, and I was even told that it burrowed under a moun- 
tain. Geographers may expect to find desirable information 
in the publications of the scientific labours of the Mexican 
North American Boundary Commission. 

The people here are savage, and their habits as rude as 
the nature around them. The Nortenos — as the inha- 
bitants of the Presidio del Norte are called in Mexico — 
are the allies, spies, powder purveyors, the receivers and 
buyers of stolen goods, of the Texan Comanches. Necessity 
may have driven them to this, for, isolated and exposed as 
they are, they could scarcely otherwise have held their 
ground between the Comanches and Apaches. Their 
alliance with the Comanches is in so far advantageous to 



Chap. XIII. LEATON'S FOKT. 409 

their Mexican countrymen, as by it they assist in the 
extermination of the Apaches. I have already spoken of 
attacks upon these by the united forces of the Nortenos 
and Comanches. This friendly intercourse is maintained 
with some of these tribes by written correspondence, which 
the Comanche chiefs carry on by means of their Mexican 
prisoners. The system of special treaties between indi- 
vidual villages and ranchos and the Indians is universal 
in Mexico, and neither patriotism nor morality can say 
much against this fulfilment of the law of self-defence. 

We took our loaded waggons over the Rio Grande on 
a ferry ; the empty ones were drawn through the stream 
by oxen. We encamped on the other side, — in Texas. 

Our camp was not far from a large building surrounded 
by a mud wall, called by the North Americans Leaton's 
Fort, and by the Mexicans only El For tin. A North 
American, not then living, had fixed himself on this spot 
in defiance of the Indians, in order to oppose their depre- 
dations. This man was too remarkable a person to be 
passed over in silence ; — a character for any tale which 
may be written of the wild frontier life of this region. I 
should call him a noble Desperado. We had business to 
transact here with another North American, who only 
wanted heroism to be a similar character. He called him- 
self " Doctor," but I question whether he was acquainted 
with any other medicine than gunpowder. In my presence 
he placed a pistol at the breast of an unfortunate Mexican, 
merely because he would not agree to the price offered him 
for a mule. Leaton and the Doctor were foes, and enmity 
in this country is enmity for life and death. It happened 
once that Leaton, riding past a thicket, heard the click of 
a gun which missed fire. Drawing his revolver from his 
belt, he instantly turned his horse to the spot, and found 



410 MR. LEATON AND THE DOCTOR. Book II. 

the Doctor in the act of putting on a fresh cap. " Doctor, 
let that be," said Leaton with imperturbable coolness, 
pointing his revolver at him. The Doctor obeyed. "Put 
down your rifle;" the Doctor obeyed again. "Now come 
out;" again the Doctor obeyed. "So, so, Doctor," said 
Leaton, taking hold of his ear, "you wanted to shoot Mr. 
Leaton, did you ? Don't try that again : you are too 
clumsy for that. But now Doctor come with me ; you shall 
be my guest." Thereupon, with his revolver in his right 
hand, he led the would-be murderer into his court-yard, 
where he bound him to a post with a chain, and kept him 
several days in this position. Every day he brought him 
his breakfast, dinner, and supper, when he always tor- 
mented him with the following kind of sarcastic jokes : 
"So, so, Doctor, you meant to shoot Mr. Leaton, but your 
powder was not dry. Mr. Leaton, however, is a good man 
and regales you with the best. How does his cooking please 
you ?" After mocking him several days in this manner, he 
let the poor wretch go with a suitable admonition. 

During the night we had several alarms in our camp. 
First, one of the watch fired — more in joke I think than 
in earnest — upon a human figure which immediately took 
to flight, and was followed by several others who appeared 
to rise out of the ground : some other shots were fired ; 
but they proved to be some common Mexican women, who 
had visited our drivers during the night. A few hours 
later there was another shot again upon a human figure, 
but this time a more dangerous one. A regular chace 
ensued, and wherever a shadow was seen among the bushes 
it was fired at. I can only hope that no harmless passer-by 
was injured. 

On the 22nd of May we were again in motion. The road 
we took from hence is known as Connelly's Trail, after a 



Chap. XIIT. FEATUBES OF THE COUNTRY. 411 

Dr. Connelly, who a few years since made the first carriage 
track through the wilderness. This road,, at the watering- 
place Agua Delgada, joins the more frequented one which 
connects El Paso with San Antonio in Texas. 

The bearing towards this place, which we reached on the 
29th, is north-easterly. We travelled mostly by nights, 
and rested by day, so that I could make no connected exa- 
mination of the country. I can only say, in general terms, 
that the road from the valley of the Rio Grande, passes 
over sand and gravelly hills, through deep watercourses 
and over steep cliffs in the alluvial region, till it reaches the 
first terraced side of the valley. Farther from the river 
it ascends to hills of conglomerate, sandstone and limestone, 
respecting the geological character of which I can say 
nothing. Passing through valleys shut in by these hills, 
and over elevated plains, round which rise table-moun- 
tains composed of strata of sandstone of different colours, 
and limestone of various quality, we came to the perpen- 
dicular cliff of a terrace of porphyry, the surface of which 
forms a sloping plateau. Eising over this, we arrived at 
the base of the Puerto del Paisano, a pass in the porphy- 
ritic chain, which forms the direct south-easterly continua- 
tion of Sierra del Diablo, in which the Limpia Passes 
exist, and which in a more general sense belongs to the 
southern continuation of the Eocky Mountains ; for these, 
in their farthest southerly extension, stand here on the east 
side of Eio Grande, till by the great curve of the river, 
they come to take their place on the western bank, towards 
Cohahuila. From the level of the plateau on the east side 
of this mountain chain the country descends in terraces 
towards the centre of Texas, the road passing now over the 
table-land itself; then through the valleys by which it is 
intersected, and the sides of which are generally formed by 



412 WATEKING-PLACES. Book II. 

tabular mountains. I will now bring forward what was 
most remarkable in the details of this journey. 

The first watering-place eastwards from the Rio Grande 
is called Los Alamos. We reached it in the morning after 
a night's journey, and found a spring surrounded by poplars, 
and thickly bordered with reeds, among barren hills covered 
with scanty grass, cacti, yuccas, lechuguilla agaves, dasy- 
liria, and a poor growth of bushes. The journey through 
the next night brought us into a well-watered valley of con- 
siderable extent and ramifications, opening towards the 
Rio Grande. It is bounded by hills of conglomerate, a few 
isolated and curiously formed mountains being only seen 
upon the horizon to the east. Where the road comes upon 
this spring, the place is called Punta del Agua. The 
road passes through this valley along a brook bordered 
with high reeds. The cuguar, called by the Mexicans, 
leon, abounds here. We passed the haunt of one of these 
wild beasts disturbed by our vanguard, — -the skeletons of 
several deer lay around. Riding on I saw several snakes 
among the reeds, probably the Mocassin snake, which is 
known to be very dangerous. This valley is broad, and 
fertile enough to make it a desirable place for future settle- 
ments, Willows and other shrubs grow along the stream. 
The hills are barren, and the grass upon them thin, but — 
like all mountain grass of this country — of good quality. 
On the horizon, beyond these hills, isolated mountain groups 
are seen, many of them of singular forms. On our road 
from the Presidio, to the left, an isolated hill, like a castle 
rock, was always in sight. It was called the Cerro de 
Jacinto. A few days' journey farther on w T e had the 
Picacho de la Cienaga de Valles before us, a rocky mass 
resembling a church with towers and cupolas. 

One of our next halting-places, where water and grass 



Chap. XIII. THE OJO DEL BERENDO. 413 

were in abundance, was El Saucillo — the Willow Bush. 
The plain is bounded on the one side by steep tabular hills 
of sedimentary rocks ; while on the other the long perpen- 
dicular wall of a terrace of porphyry extends. I climbed 
one of the hills close to our camp. The lower stratum 
was a soft green sandstone ; then came one of a sandy 
marl, then a third of hard sandstone, covered by one of a 
coarse conglomerate formed of pebbles and boulders of 
porphyry, green vitrified lava, and other plutonic and 
volcanic masses. We drove through the night over hard 
smooth ground, and arrived in the early morning at the 
foot of the porphyry terrace. The place where the road 
ascends it is called Cuesta de San Estevan. This por- 
phyry is of a light yellow and greenish colour, full of 
caves and arched vaults. A rising plain lies eastwards 
on the summit, upon which, at the edge of the precipice, 
Tascate bushes grow, a species of juniper, bearing red 
berries. 

The Ojo del Berendo, or Antelope Spring, rises in this 
terrace ; a very suitable name, for we saw numerous herds 
of antelopes all around. In hunting these animals, both 
Mexicans and Indians disguise themselves with an ante- 
lope's head. A Virginian, who had joined our caravan at the 
Presidio, carried one with him for this purpose, and made 
the first trial of it here. Although he did not succeed in 
his attempt, he amused us excessively by his pantomime. 
While, with the horned head above his own, he endea- 
voured to act his part correctly, by making the most extra- 
ordinary jumps, which he evidently thought were inimitably 
true to nature, hundreds of antelopes stood, in a large 
semicircle, watching the actions of this strange mongrel 
figure, but never lessening a wide distance between them- 
selves and him ; so that, in spite of his dramatic talent, our 



414 



PUERTO DEL PAISANO. 



Book II. 



friend did not accomplish his purpose. This watering- 
place had a good spring, but it was insufficient for our 
animals. Quite near there was an abundance of standing 
water, of a coffee-brown colour, in pits in the ground, 
among which separate bunches of rushes grew. This 
water was so saturated with soda that it tasted like lye, 
and made the skin slippery. Notwithstanding this, our 
animals drank it. The plateau, smooth and sterile, with 
the rushes and waterpits in the foreground, and the rocky 
peak of the Picacho de la Cienaga de Valles in the back- 
ground, formed a most characteristic desert scene. 

We reached the Puerto del Paisano, a mountain pass 
with most interesting scenery, over a plain full of the 
prairie marmot. The mountain chain through which it 
passes forms the eastern limit of the plateau, while from 
the eastern side of this chain the ground sinks into a lower 
level. The precipices and detached rocks of this pass, with 
scattered oaks, form a most interesting landscape. Valleys 
shut in by perpendicular walls, with towering pinnacles, 
intersect these mountain masses ; and single rocks stand 
isolated like obelisks. We thus reached the Ojo del 
Paisano, 1 one of the most beautiful and interesting water- 
ing-places of this neighbourhood. The valley forms a 
space surrounded by steep mountains, opening eastwards 
towards the plain. The mountains are covered with groups 
of evergreen oaks, and there is no lack of grass, although 
this year scarcely any rain had fallen to rouse the slum- 
bering vegetation. In spite of this, however, the scarlet 
blossoms of the Castilleja occurred here and there in the 
valley. 



1 With reference both to the pass 
and to the spring, the word paisano 
means a before-named bird, Geococcyx 



viaticus, the paisano or correcamino 
of the Mexicans — the ground cuckoo. 



Chap. XIII. AGUA DELGADA — OJO DE AHUANCHA. 415 

The Lion's Spring — Ojo del Leon — was our next water- 
ing-place. This name also proved to be a correct one. 
The advance of our party drove a cuguar from his break- 
fast, — a freshly-killed stag, which was yet warm. Our 
people cooked it for their own meal. The water of this 
spring forms a clear and plentiful brook, flowing for about 
a mile between flat hills, after which it disappears. 

From hence we came to an abundant supply of water, 
called Agua Delgada. Bordered by rush and reed, a 
small stream flows through a succession of singular ponds, 
the clear but brackish waters of which are from twenty to 
thirty feet in depth, with precipitous sides in the bog, and 
contain numerous turtles. The valley on each side is 
covered with rich grass, intervening spaces occurring which 
exhibit efflorescences of glauber salt, common salt, soda, &c, 
and terminate in a reedy marsh ; the plain beyond being 
sterile. The road from the Presidio joins that from El 
Paso here. The spring of Ahuancha, an Indian name cor- 
rupted into Comanche spring, lies about fifteen miles to the 
north-east. A remarkably long flat mountain, extremely 
regular in its form, and evidently a remnant of a more 
elevated plateau, rises here above the low plain. At its 
base I found some fossils, apparently belonging to the 
Jurassic formation. In the plain, several strong springs, 
rising in a space of a few hundred feet, form a stream, in 
the deep and clear waters of which we caught a quantity of 
cat-fish. This stream probably ceases farther on in the 
steppe. 

Then follows the Ojo Escondido, or Hidden Well, a clear 
but brackish spring. It forms the Arroyo Escondido, or 
Hidden Brook, a sluggish streamlet covered with reeds and 
rushes. 

Hitherto we had found but little fresh grass on our road, 



416 THE RIO PECOS. Book II. 

and our animals had had only the dry haulm of the previous 
year ; low moist places, and the bottoms immediately round 
the springs, had been the only exceptions. But now, as we 
approached the valley of the Pecos, an entire change took 
place in the scene. On the 31st of May we arrived at a 
plain covered with grass and flowers, and surrounded by 
regularly-formed table-mountains. The grass and flowers 
were so thick and high, that our horses had difficulty in 
making their way through, and the sweetest perfume, prin- 
cipally of the superb american centaurea, filled the 
atmosphere. This transition to a more advanced season 
was not caused by any difference in the level above the 
sea, but was the result of heavy rains, which had not fallen 
more to the west. From hence eastwards to Texas the 
steppe was in its most gorgeous beauty. 

We reached the river Pecos on the 1st of June, and con- 
tinued our journey for three days along its course, 
athough the road runs occasionally at some distance from 
it, and is even separated by isolated tabular mountains. 
The sides of the valley are broken up by parallel and 
other valleys branching from it. The higher ground 
consists without exception of flat mountains, which on each 
side unite, forming a horizontal table-land of limestone. 
The valley itself is narrow, irregular, full of turns and 
windings ; the stream flows in a deep bed between steep 
clay banks, so that you may come close to it without per- 
ceiving it. For many miles the water is beyond the reach 
of animals, the banks being so perpendicular that they fall 
into it and are carried away by the current. Willows, 
poplars and oaks occur along the stream; but they grow 
chiefly below the banks, on a level with the water, on 
narrow strips of ground bordering the river ; while their 
tops, barely rising above the chasm, look like bushes, and 



Chap. XIII. LIFE OAK CEEEK. 417 

scarcely betray the course of the stream . The water is 
clayey, brackish, and unwholesome. 

We crossed the river at a spot where, by a great decline, 
it becomes shallow. The passage is rather dangerous, 
requiring care and presence of mind. 

The mail from El Paso passed us here. Two carriages, 
each with four mules ; coachmen, guard and passengers all 
fully armed. One of the passengers was a little girl of 
three or four years old, who — entrusted to the coachman, 
and with no other companion — was thus sent the 700 miles 
from El Paso to San Antonio. The other passengers, 
however, joined him in taking care of her; and it was 
touching to see how these rough, bearded men, with their 
pistols and daggers, supplied the place of a mother's care 
to the tender little creature. It was a true picture of wild 
American life, where the highest qualities in human nature 
are often found, united with the roughest externals. 

To the east of the valley, the road ascends again by a 
lateral branch to the plateau. The stream of this side 
valley is called the Life Oak Creek ; and the valley gave 
us a pleasant halting place. In a short time we caught 
sufficient fish to afford an ample meal for the whole 
caravan. 

An enchanting prairie scene surrounded us above. The 
level plain was covered with fresh young grass, and bushes 
of cypress-like junipers marked the beginning of the de- 
clivity towards the Pecos valley. Farther to the east the 
ground became more undulating, while scattered shrubs 
gave it the appearance of a park. We arrived at the 
Howard Springs, at the base of some limestone hills. On 
the road we saw several stags, a bear in the distance, and the 
carcase of a buffalo. A few days previously we had found 
the head of one of these animals, with the horns attached. 

2 E 



418 THE DEVIL'S RIVEB. Book IT. 

It may be that a stray one is occasionally driven thus far 
south by the Indians hunting. 

On the 6th of June we arrived, after a harassing 
journey, at the notorious Devil's River. The name is 
justified by the wildness of the scenery, though more in 
reference to the difficulties of the traveller than to its 
artistic effect. 

We reached the valley by a steep descent, the sides 
consisting of rocky, and in many places perpendicular, 
hills. Here it was like another world. Above, a stony 
steppe with short grass, different kinds of cactus, dwarf 
yuccas, and the stiff dasylirium with its giant spikes of 
flowers ; below, plane, oak, and walnut trees, thickets of 
wild plums, intertwined with vines, and high thick grass, 
from among which were visible the scarlet ipomopsis, and 
the blue tradescantia. 

But before I proceed with my description of this valley 
I must speak of the region through which we passed from the 
Pecos. One peculiarity is the repeated occurrence of dead 
mezquite trees, of considerable size, with the growth of 
young ones, — there being no intermediate stage of size or 
age. This probably has been caused by repeated prairie 
fires, which destroyed the old trees, and prevented the 
growth of fresh ones. If this is the case, it must stand in 
connexion with a periodical peopling of the country. At 
Chihuahua, a man who had been a great deal in this locality 
told me that for a long period no Indians had lived there, 
during which it was covered by a thick mezquite wood. 
Subsequently certain hordes came here, and with them the 
prairie fires began. In later times the advance of the. 
whites into Texas has driven back the savages, and re- 
strained their visits; and the prairie fires ceasing, trees 
and shrubs have again appeared. 



Chap. XIII. YALLEY OF THE DEVIL'S EIVER. 419 

It is asserted that this process may be watched through- 
out West Texas ; that the increasing growth of trees and 
shrubs changes the climate and increases the amount of 
rain, so that by degrees the steppes will be covered with 
woods and thickets. 

Whether every fact in this chain of sequences is correct 
I cannot say ; but the belief in a change of climate and an 
increased amount of rain was at that time very general in 
West Texas. The old Mexican inhabitants ascribed the 
increased humidity to some mysterious influence of the 
North Americans, the change having apparently come with 
them. The subsequent droughts, however, from which 
Texas suffered so severely, must have shaken this belief. 
The sudden appearance of a young mezquite vegetation 
after so long a period of obstruction to its growth, may be 
explained by its growth from the roots, since the algarobbia 
sends out very long and deep roots. 

We continued our journey four days, partly through the 
valley of the Devil's River, partly through lateral branches 
of the same, and over adjoining table-land. This locality is 
one of the most interesting 1 have seen in America. The 
valley, with its branches, is literally a defile through the 
plateau, and opens into that of the Rio Grande, where this 
enters the lowland of Texas. At the upper part of the 
valley our caravan passed over masses of heaped-up blocks 
and stones, which, in places, covered the ground from one 
mountain's side to the other. These heaps are terrible 
indications of the fearful power exercised by the periodical 
floods. I saw drift wood remaining high up the trees 
between forked branches, showing to what an incredible 
height the valley was sometimes filled with water. These 
floods are however of very short duration. Where we first 
entered the valley it was quite dry; but farther on, the 

2 E 2 



420 INDIAN BEUTALLTY. Book IL 

road having taken us for some hours away from the bed of 
the river, we found it filled with a crystal, clear, powerful 
stream. It is said to rise at some distance in the moun- 
tains from a single spring. I did not see the spot, which 
is considered very beautiful ; but as such springs are well 
known in Texas, I have no doubt as to the correctness of 
the statement. 

Lower down, the course of the stream varies, between 
broad stagnant extensions, and contractions with a rapid 
current. Shrubs and tall trees line the banks. We passed 
an old camping place of the Indians, with the remains of 
their huts, and piles of stones in many places, indicating 
where murdered travellers had been buried. In one place, 
where the river falls through a narrow contraction of the 
valley, the road ascends on its west side to the plateau, 
which here has a considerable declivity southwards to the 
Rio Grande. High mountains are seen in the distance to 
the south-west, probably in the State of Cohahuila. 

When we reached a well-known place on the plateau 
called Palo Blanco, we found an Indian camp, from which 
they had but just moved. Don Guillermo, who had fol- 
lowed a stag some little distance from the camp, came 
upon the fresh track of a band of Indians, who must have 
crossed the road scarcely an hour before us. A most 
repulsive object met our view upon the very spot where 
we had intended to encamp. The grave of some traveller 
had been opened near the road, the half decomposed body 
thrown out, the head set upon a pole, and some waggon 
boards which had served for a coffin were placed on the 
road in a certain form as if indicating something. Whether 
anything besides insult was meant by this, it is impossible 
to say ; but the night passed undisturbed. We continued 
our journey in the morning, and reached a depression of 



Chap. XIII. THE DEVIL'S RIVER AGAIN. 421 

the plateau which brought us to the rocky valley of the 
Painted Cave, called by the Mexicans El Arroyo de la 
Cueva Pinta. This is a lateral branch of the Devil's 
River Valley, and one of the most gloomy localities I ever 
saw ; so barren and inhospitable as to produce the most 
painful impressions. Some excavations in the rocks were 
filled with water. The thousands of the gigantic flowering 
spikes of the dasylirium, a plant characteristic of the stony 
deserts of western Texas, tended to heighten rather than 
soften the wild character of the locality. Their gigantic 
proportions are quite overwhelming, and I felt as if I were 
lost. This dismal valley descends through a deep and 
narrow cleft between grotesquely shaped rocks, which rise 
in peaks and pinnacles and contain a number of round 
openings. These are the entrances into caves, some of 
which are said to contain numerous Indian paintings on 
their sides ; but I was unable to examine them. The 
cleft opens into the lower part of the Devil's River Valley, 
which has much the same gloomy character. The road, . 
after crossing a lateral valley, ascends again to the plateau, 
and then for the last time rejoins the principal trunk. 

Here, where the road again approaches the river, this 
valley displays the truly classic beauty of a wilderness. 
The river now a broad crystal stream, flowing over flat, 
polished, yellowish-white limestone slabs, is here surrounded 
by noble trees, wreathed by vines, above which the enclos- 
ing rocks lift their towering heights. The river-bed is very 
remarkable, and the transparency of the water such as to 
make every line and crevice in its marble floor visible. 
Here and there, where a flaw has occurred, mud has col- 
lected, in which high reeds have taken root. The con- 
trasts in these particulars are uncommon, and the harmony 
in which they are composed is equally rare. Luxuriant 



422 OLD HUT — TEEEIBLE KECOLLECTIONS. Book II. 

vegetation in the valley surmounted by naked rocks, lofty 
trees shading a brilliant water surface, islands of reeds on 
the flat bed of a rapid stream, are features seldom united 
in one picture. A picture truly of wild and brilliant 
beauty. 

The remains of a hut made with branches, and of a 
fireplace close to it, were visible, where the road passes 
through the lowest part of the valley. Here, some years 
since, when this region was less frequented than it is now, 
some passing travellers — so I was told — once found the 
roasted remains of a human being. Some runaway negroes 
from Texas had concealed themselves here, and urged by 
hunger, had killed one of their companions in his sleep, 
thus seeking to preserve their own lives. They voluntarily 
gave themselves up to justice. 

A few days' journey eastwards from Devil's River 
brings you to the settlements in Texas. The table-land, 
to which you ascend quickly through rocky defiles, gra- 
i dually slopes from thence, and the landscape assumes more 
and more the appearance of a park. With increased irri- 
gation game also increases, and continues to do so after the 
first villages are reached. Our waggon-master in passing, 
and close to the road, shot in one day three stags. Wild 
turkeys are nowhere more abundant in America than in the 
vicinity of the Devil's River, and from thence eastward. 
We came repeatedly upon the track of the cuguar, and in 
one of the first houses we met with, the children were 
playing with three young bears. 

Coming from the west, we met the first settlers on this 
route, in Fort Clarke. This is, or was then, the most re- 
mote military station of the United States on this road. 
In order to give the reader an example of American con- 
trasts I would just state that preserved fruits, anchovies, 



Chap. XIII. 



FIKST SETTLEMENT ON THE ROAD. 



423 



pickled oysters, and champagne, were to be had at a store 
adjoining the fort. On the road farther to the east is Fort 
Inge, which we passed some little distance to the south. 
The Mexicans call this last military station Fortin de la 
Leon a, and the first one Fortin de la Mora. 1 

Besides these forts, the first settlement we met with was 
situated where the road crosses the Sabinal River. It was 
a well-built house, near which another was being built : the 
position is beautiful, and will undoubtedly give rise to a 
considerable place. Noble specimens of the Texan cypress, 
called by the Mexicans sabine, grow by the river : they 
are the first which occur on this road coming from the 
west. The Canon de Uvalde, which has since been bought 
by Victor Considerant as a second home for himself and 
his unsuccessful colony, is situated farther up this river. 

Dhanis, to the east of the Rio Seco, was the first large 
collection of houses we met with. It is a village of emigrants 
from Alsatia and Wiirtemberg. Before we arrived at it I 
met a man on the road, to whom I in vain addressed my- 
self in English, and then in Spanish, and who at last made 
himself known as a German from Alsatia. There is a 
numerous settlement of Alsatians in this western region of 
Texas, and I remarked that they all called themselves 
Germans. 

At the Rio Hondo I was made welcome in a house near 
the road, inhabited by a family from Wiirtemberg. The 
mistress and her sister, this last a genuine " Schwabe- 
madle," pressed me with much kindness to join them at 
table, upon which a dish of "spatzle" was smoking. The 



1 The North Americans constantly 
corrupt this name into Fort Moro, and, 
by the same corruption, change the 
name of the Bio de Mora, a stream which 
falls into the Rio Grande, into " Moro 
Creek." It is a repetition of the cor- 



ruption of a similar name in New- 
Mexico. Mora is Spanish for mulberry- 
tree, and this gives the name to the fort 
and the river. The name has nothing 
to do with the word moro, " moor." 



424 STAY AT SAN ANTONIO. Book II. 

husband, an equally genuine Swabian, replied to my 
question as to how it suited him here, with a favourable 
picture of his domestic circumstances. " So far it is well 
enough," he said; " but what is all this if there is no beer 
and no wine ? And it is not all as it should be : I re- 
marked it as soon as we left Wurtemberg. Things looked 
badly when we got to Cologne, and I said then to my wife, 
the thing looks bad." By Vandenburg, Quihi, and Cas- 
troville, all inhabited by Alsatians and Germans, we came 
to San Antonio, the most considerable town in West 
Texas, where I once again found myself in civilized life. 

The reader will probably have remarked that I have 
but imperfectly described the latter half of the road from 
Rio Grande to San Antonio. The length which the 
Second Book has already attained compels me to keep 
within limits ; but if the reader will kindly accompany 
me, I shall take him again through a portion of these 
wildernesses and deserts in the Third Book of this work. 

The number and character of the German population 
in West Texas were almost entirely unknown to me, when, 
on my arrival at San Antonio, I found myself suddenly 
in a circle of well-educated countrymen, who received me 
with every possible mark of kindness and esteem. The 
surprise was great and most agreeable. I had intended 
to continue my journey to New York without stopping on 
the road, but I yielded to these pleasant circumstances ; 
and, having done this, I decided also to visit some friends 
settled on the Upper Guadalupe. The group of German 
settlements in this beautiful locality is especially interest- 
ing, from the civilization which they have thus brought 
into the wilderness, and which has struck Anglo-American 
travellers. Bartlett, and also Olmsted, remarked favour- 
ably upon this subject. The ride thither from San An- 
tonio occupies a day. At the end of my journey I had 



Chap. XIII. STAY AT SAN ANTONIO. 425 

to cross the Guadalupe, a small stream flowing, like all 
others of this region, in a deep bed, bordered by cypresses 
and other beautiful trees. The place where it is crossed 
is full of beauty, like many such spots in this country. 
The stream, which is usually as clear as crystal, was some- 
what higher than usual ; and, as on horseback it was more 
difficult to avoid the roots and stems of the cypresses, I 
left my horse behind, and waded through it, up to my 
neck, holding my clothes high in my hand. Continued 
heavy showers raised the water during the following night 
at least 20 feet above its usual level, and thus my return 
to San Antonio was prevented till the stream should 
subside again. Such sudden floods are common to the 
rivers of Texas : they are great impediments to all com- 
munication, and sources of danger to the imprudent. 
Drivers who have encamped in the valley of such a stream 
have been frequently carried away, with their cattle and 
their waggons, by the unexpected flood. The permanent 
water of the rivers in this region is clear spring- water, 
the quantity of which is but little influenced by the atmo- 
spheric changes. These rivers, however, are the drains for 
extensive plains and hilly ground, which in dry weather are 
quite parched, but during heavy rains receive a super- 
abundance of water. Of this but a small portion penetrates 
the hard soil, and consequently all the water which runs 
off a space of many hundred square miles, is collected 
into a deep and narrow river, which it fills with a rapidity 
admitting of no escape, to 20 and 30 feet above its natural 
level. As in the valley of Devil's River, I saw drift- 
wood here on the banks of the Guadalupe, entangled in the 
highest branches of lofty trees. 

As soon as I was able to continue my journey, I took a 
place in the stage-coach which runs between San Antonio 
and Indianola. The coach was to start at midnight, and 



426 DANGEROUS ADVENTURE. Book II. 

the conductor promised, according to the custom here, to 
take me up at my friend's house, that of Mr. S., whose 
guest I was. It was only of one story, and the room in 
which I slept with my friend had a glass door opening into 
the court-yard. In order to be ready for the stage-coach, 
I had lain down dressed, and had left a light burning so 
that the conductor might the more easily see me, and wake 
me. The door, as is usual in Texas, was not locked. 

I had slept some time when I was roused by a shot in 
our room, and starting up saw Mr. S. struggling with a 
man who held a six-shot revolver in his hand. Mr. S. 
endeavoured to get hold of this weapon ; but as I rose the 
fellow fired at me, but missed me, and we then succeeded 
in forcing him out of the door, which we could not however 
lock. We looked in vain for some weapon. S. had none 
in his bedroom, and I had fired my pistols off during the 
evening, thinking them unnecessary. Our situation was, 
therefore, really critical, for the fellow forced his hand 
through the glass, and sought to aim first at S., and then 
at me. We were obliged to lie down below the glass 
portion of the door, partly to protect ourselves, and also 
to keep the door closed. We could not long have main- 
tained this position, when my friend caught sight of a piece 
of cord lying near. A noose was quickly made in it, and 
thrown round the hand of the rascal, who was thus our 
prisoner. He fired a third shot with no better success. 
And now he put his head into the room to see his way, and 
to try and free himself; and at this instant I succeeded in 
wresting the revolver from him. In the heat of the 
moment I pointed the barrel against his head, and fired ; the 
shot missed, as also the two remaining barrels. We now threw 
the cord round the fellow's neck, and drew him into the 
room through the hole in the glass door. While we were 
binding him, the police-watch, attracted by the repeated 



Chap. XIII. DANGEROUS ADVENTURE — INDIANOLA. 427 

shots, arrived, and they not only took possession of our pri- 
soner, but seized an accomplice in the courtyard, who had 
probably been keeping watch. The stage-coach arrived just 
as the two were in safe hands. My friend and I congra- 
tulated each other on our escape from injury, and I soon 
forgot the adventure in the tragi-comic circumstances of a 
night journey on a road where the carriage every few 
minutes sank in mud above the axles of the wheels. 

I learned later that our assailants were Irishmen, and 
disbanded soldiers. In November I was again in San 
Antonio, on my journey to California, and found that they 
were still in confinement under trial, for which my arrival as 
a witness had been waited; but I remained in San Antonio 
two months without its taking place, and I afterwards 
heard that they were set at liberty without punishment. 

The stage-coach journey from San Antonio was most 
peculiar, and would probably have excited the ill humour 
of a less-tried traveller ; but it only awakened merriment 
in me and my companions. I paid, if I mistake not, 
12i dollars for my seat, for which price I secured the privi- 
lege of walking three-fourths of the distance — about 160 
English miles — and was obliged to help to pull the coach 
out of the mud-holes in which it should stick fast. The 
reader can scarcely imagine what this necessity amounted 
to. Without giving the details, I will only say that it was 
the hardest and dirtiest work I ever undertook. Like all 
travellers returning from savage to civilized life, I had 
equipped myself afresh from head to foot, and all my 
bravery was ruined in this two days' journey. At Indianola 
I had to throw the whole away, and equip myself again. 
For miles I had to walk in mud and water, and in extri- 
cating myself from an unusually deep place, I lost my 
pocket-book, containing many valuable notes and letters. 

Indianola is well known as a town of German origin. 



428 RETURN TO NEW YORK. Book II. 

I was hailed by my name immediately as I went out, and 
found myself greeted by one of my two companions on my 
journey from San Juan de Nicaragua to Granada, who had 
settled here. Mr. S. had my luggage fetched from the 
hotel, and I remained his guest, enjoying the kindest 
hospitality. 

After a few days I took the steamer which plies regularly 
from hence to New Orleans. The passage deserves no 
farther remark, than that I found myself in the society of 
several officers belonging to the army of the United States, 
whose refinement of manners was as agreeable as the interest 
they took in scientific subjects. 

I was a stranger to New Orleans, which, in so many 
respects, is a peculiarly interesting town, and I would gladly 
have remained some weeks there ; but the time of the year 
was unfavourable. The yellow fever, which committed 
such ravages in the summer of 1853, had just broken out; 
every one who could was hastening to leave the town, and 
I therefore determined to leave it the next day by the 
river steamer to St. Louis. We had, as might be ex- 
pected, the fever on board, but, as far as was known, only 
one death occurred. 

I remained two days at St. Louis, which I spent princi- 
pally with one who had been my playfellow in childhood, 
and who, like me, had been led into the " far west " regions 
of America. Both on the Rio Grande and in the State of 
Chihuahua I had constantly followed the steps of Dr. 
Wislizenus. 

The rest of my journey to New York I accomplished 
by the railroad, which from St. Louis, south of the great 
Lakes, runs directly across the country, and then from 
Albany along the Hudson Eiver. I arrived after an 
absence of rather more than thirteen months. 



Book III. 
JOURNEY FROM THE COAST OF TEXAS, 

AND 

THROUGH THE DISTRICT OF THE GILA 
AND COLORADO, 

TO SAN FRANCISCO; 

RESIDENCE THERE, AND RETURN. 



Chap. I. FROM NEW YORK TO SAN ANTONIO. 431 



CHAPTEE I. 

From New York to San Antonio — New Orleans — Galveston and Port Lavaca 
after the Epidemic — Journey to San Antonio — News from the Camp — 
Sickness among the Mules — Rattlesnake Bites, and a poisonous Caterpillar 

— A Fight, and American Opinion on it — Neighbourhood of San Antonio 

— Climate in the Winter — The River and its Sources — Subterranean 
Water-courses in Western Texas — Changes in the Physical Geography 
of the Country — Adventures of a young German — ■ Prince Bonaparte — 
Reminiscences of Texan Desperadoes. 

Late in the summer of 1853, my friends, Messrs. Mayer 
and Co., had finished their preparations for a new trading 
expedition to Chihuahua, and at New York they made me 
the offer of accompanying the caravan a second time. To 
give a general idea of the management of such a trading 
business I must observe, that one partner of the firm gene- 
rally resides as purchaser in New York, whilst the other 
accompanies the transport through the prairie, and super- 
intends the sale of the goods at Chihuahua. Mr. Kauf- 
mann, who had hitherto been engaged as the New York 
resident of this nomadic firm, was desirous, in order to 
learn from personal observation the relative state of the 
markets, to make the journey on this occasion; and, as he 
urged my accompanying him, I accepted the invitation. 

The expedition was to start this time from Texas, where 
the remainder of the former equipment was waiting to join 
us with twenty new waggons. These had been ordered at 
one of the celebrated manufactories in Pittsburg, sent 
by the steam-boat down the Ohio and Mississippi to New 
Orleans, and thence to Port Lavaca, on the coast of 
Western Texas. To that harbour the goods had been for- 
warded from New York ; and on the 10th of October I 



432 GALVESTON AND POET LAVACA. Book III, 

went by " The Black Warrior " steamer, in company with 
Mr. Kaufinann, by way of Havanna to New Orleans, in- 
tending to proceed to the above-mentioned port. We 
reached New Orleans on the morning of the 20th. The 
yellow fever, which had made terrible ravages that year, 
had passed away. On the 23rd, we continued our voyage 
on board the steamer " Mexico," and on the 25th arrived 
in the harbour of Galveston, where I had time to visit 
some acquaintances. Three months before, on my journey 
to New York, I had dined here with ten or eleven young 
Germans, all of whom, but three or four, had been carried 
off by the yellow fever, and I was told that, of fifty 
Germans who had come in the spring, with other emi- 
grants, only three survived. The epidemic had never 
before been so fatal here. It had also exhibited unusual 
symptoms, and was asserted to differ essentially from the 
ordinary yellow fever to which they were accustomed, 
and which was not so much feared. The first autumnal 
north wind checked the ravages of the fever, and from that 
time no new cases appeared ; but the change of weather 
caused the death of most of the patients. 

We landed at Indianola, and immediately jumped into 
the first post-coach going to Port Lavaca. In both places 
the epidemic had raged fiercely, and had interrupted the 
whole trade of the country. Ships had been laid fast in 
port for weeks, for want of men to unload their cargoes ; 
trade was at a stand, and the houses to which cargoes 
were consigned were closed. We found part of our chests 
and bales lying on the shore quite unprotected, and their 
contents much injured. 

We travelled to San Antonio by the post-coach. The 
road was in no better state than on my journey down 
in July, and similar tragi-comic occurrences happened 



Chap. I. JOURNEY TO SAN ANTONIO. 433 

now as then. The first night I was obliged to run 
before the carriage for a considerable distance with a 
stearine candle in my hand, through a deep marsh, in 
order to find out the road, of which all trace had dis- 
appeared in the soft soil : this was near the coast. The 
road above Victoria was better; but the second night, 
and not far from San Antonio, the wheels on one side 
of the waggon, which had got a little off the road, 
together with one of the horses, sank into a peculiar 
muddy sand, overgrown with the grass of the prairie. A 
kind of dangerous quicksand lies under the turf, which 
I afterwards often observed in this part of Texas. We 
were obliged to seek help in the neighbourhood ; and 
eight men were hard at work for two hours before the 
carriage was again in motion. The coolness and equa- 
nimity which Americans show in such cases is admi- 
rable, and quite shames the European, at least the 
man from the continent. During the whole affair no 
loud words were heard ; no impatience was exhibited ; 
no unwillingness to assist. Early the next morning (the 
30th) we arrived at San Antonio. Here I learned what 
had befallen, during the three months of my absence, the 
small caravan with which I had started from Chihuahua. 
They had encamped in the prairie, a few miles from San 
Antonio : sickness had broken out among the mules, 
and carried off nineteen of the best animals ; and, after- 
wards, more died on the road. Several had been bitten 
by rattlesnakes, and saved with the greatest difficulty. The 
same thing happened to one of our drivers ; but a re- 
markable accident befel the waggon-master: he had 
crushed on his hand a little hairy caterpillar, which 
was crawling on it, and in a few minutes the most 
alarming symptoms appeared. A shiver ran from the 

2 F 



434 A FIGHT, Book III. 

hand through his whole frame, and especially down his 
back. His abdomen swelled, his tongue was heavy. 
his consciousness became dimmed, and for a week the 
man was in imminent danger. I afterwards saw the 
little caterpillar in a collection of insects at San Antonio, 
where the patient recognised it. If he was right, it 
is a little worm covered with long yellowish hairs 
about a quarter of an inch long : it resembles a cater- 
pillar, but whether it really is one I cannot say. I 
afterwards heard of other examples of the extraordinary 
effects caused by this creature. In a garden at Indianola 
one of them dropped from a tree on to a child's arm, 
who immediately screamed with pain; the arm swelled, 
a violent fever came on, and the child's life was in great 
danger for several days. 

On our arrival this camp was immediately broken up. 
and the waggons sent down to the coast to join the new 
ones from Pittsburg, and to receive the cargo. The 
route lay through the town, where a quarrel ensued 
between the waggon-master and a Mexican muleteer. 
The latter had drunk a little too much, and stood 
holding a bottle of spirits, when the former attempted 
to knock it out of his hand. The Mexican defended 
himself, and the waggon-master gave him several sharp cuts 
with his whip ; then the former snatched up a stone and 
threw it at the waggon-master's head, which it laid open. 
The view taken of this affair by the Americans present 
is characteristic of the views of morality current in the 
United States : at first they shouted to the waggon- 
master to shoot the Mexican ; but the former, a German 
by birth, though hot-tempered was a humane man, and 
such an act was foreign to his nature, although he 
carried a revolver in his belt and was an excellent 






Chap. I. AXD AMEEICAX OPINION OX IT. 435 

shot : I have seen him shoot a hare with a pistol while 
riding, in California. When the Americans saw how 
coolly he bore the injury, with the blood streaming 
down his face, they turned from him contemptuously, 
and sided with the Mexican, shouting, "The coward! 
stone him ! kill him ! " 

It would be wrong, however, to imagine that a love 
of shedding blood actuated this judgment. Not so. 
But in the United States men who get into a rage, and 
quarrel and beat one another, are despised, unless it 
be a regular boxing-match, as in England, which is 
begun and carried out with coolness, and where the spec- 
tators form a silent circle round the combatants, without 
taking any part in the contest. In the United States 
to kill a man at a blow is thought less of than a noisy 
and brawling fight. Public morals are based on this 
sentiment, that a punctilious etiquette should always be 
observed, such as Sovereigns show to one another, though 
certainly of quite a different kind to what passes for 
courtesy in France or Germany ; and an intentional 
disregard of these manners is considered a declaration of 
war. Public opinion will generally justify a death-blow, 
if the other party was the first who threatened to strike ; 
but a blow which one man gives another is here gene- 
rally revenged with the death of the aggressor : of course 
this remark does not include the relations of master and 
slave. Our waggon-master, who used his whip pretty 
freely to enforce respect from the Mexican drivers and 
muleteers, would assuredly have long been killed had 
he only raised his arm threateningly against a North- 
American. This practice has one advantage, that it 
obviates the brawls in America, which I have so often 
witnessed in Europe. Screaming, scolding, quarrelling, 

2 F 2 



436 NEIGHBOURHOOD OF SAN ANTONIO. Book III. 

threatening, beating, very rarely occur in the United 
States, and in the few cases I have noticed the row in- 
variably proceeded from Irish, French, or Germans. 
The next day I spoke with the Mexican/ who, although 
one of our most useful and trusty servants, was in con- 
sequence of this conduct dismissed. He dissected the 
whole affair very quietly to me, and I perceived that 
his three months' residence in Texas had given the 
fellow notions of equal rights and dignity, although the 
native element of Mexican submission still remained in 
his character. " I had a knife in my belt," said he, 
"and could have killed the waggon-master, but I would 
not do so, as he was my superior." Such an idea never 
enters the head of a North- American, excepting, of course, 
in the army and navy. 

The country around San Antonio is not remarkable 
for any beautiful or grand scenery, but it is of an agree- 
able character, and has many charms which contribute 
greatly to the pleasantness of a residence here. Where 
it is not cultivated there is a variety of prairie, trees, 
and bushes, boasting a peculiar and gorgeous flora. The 
Sophora speciosa and Unguadia speciosa are here among 
the commonest shrubs. You are continually reminded 
of the scenery on the higher terrace, at whose southern 
foot this town lies, by the numerous mezquite bushes, 
single barren strips of prairie, and other characteristic 
marks of the vegetation of the more elevated regions. 

The climate of this spot is celebrated for its beauty 
and healthiness, the epidemics of the coast not extending 
so far. Travellers, it is true, have often brought the fever 
with them, but it has never been known to spread. This 
healthy character of the interior of Western Texas begins 
much further down the country : in fact, in a climatical 



Chap. I. THE KIVBK AND ITS SOUECES. 437 

point of view, only a narrow strip of the coast is dan- 
gerous ; and when a railway shall hurry the traveller 
over this belt of land, he will have little cause to fear. 
I had, above all, an opportunity of admiring the beauty 
of winter here. It certainly cannot be said that a 
Texan norther is pleasant, but I shall soon have to 
speak of this more particularly. These violent and 
icy gales, however, — but for which this region would have 
almost a tropical climate, — prevail only a few times every 
winter, and seldom last more than three days. They 
must be looked upon as an exceptional phenomenon, and 
to these probably it is owing that no miasmata collect, 
which would in this part of the country be highly dan- 
gerous. The salutary effect of these northers upon 
the healthiness of the climate extends as far as Yucatan 
and the coast of Honduras. I have spent several months 
at San Antonio, from the end of October to the middle 
of January, and in my daily walks I have found the 
climate in winter as splendid as it is beneficial to health. 
A brilliant and warm day usually succeeded a light 
night- frost. 

The river forms one of the principal beauties of San 
Antonio. Its sources are only a few miles distant, and 
gush forth from the rock, amidst wood and shrubs, just 
like the river, — a deep, rapid stream , clear as crystal. 
These springs are probably as copious as any on the face 
of the globe. I have already mentioned that the per- 
manent water of the Devil's River is said to gush forth 
from the rock in a similar manner. These phenomena 
are very common in Western Texas, although on a smaller 
scale, and enforce the opinion that the almost horizontal 
strata of limestone, on the southern declivity of which 
San Antonio is situated, cover a vast number of sub- 



438 PHYSICAL GEOGBAPHY OF THE COUNTKY. Book III. 

terranean water-courses, many of which never find 
an outlet to the surface. Sudden as well as gradual 
changes appear to take place in these water- courses, the 
water in one spot removing an obstruction, and in another 
creating some new one. Mr. P., an engineer of San 
Antonio, told me the following fact: — The Rio Yerde, 
a river now entirely dependent on the atmosphere for its 
supply of water, and which falls into the Rio Hondo, 
was formerly a permanent, clear, and broad stream, 
several feet deep ; people settled on its bank ; when, 
it all at once disappeared, nor did it appear again. 
A deep well, dug near it, at first yielded some water, 
but afterwards became dry. Suddenly, one night, a 
regular torrent broke forth from it with a tremendous 
noise, but it flowed only for a few hours ; in the morning 
the well was again empty. At noon the torrent gushed 
forth anew. This continued for several hours, since which 
time it supplies very little permanent water. Of course I 
cannot vouch for the accuracy of these statements. 

From numerous intelligent friends at San Antonio I 
learned many interesting facts relative to the nature and 
features of this country, with which — being differently en- 
gaged — I should not otherwise have become acquainted. 
One of my friends had been recently to the Atascoso, a 
small river about fifty miles S.S.W. of San Antonio, and 
had made some observations which complete my former 
remarks on the changes of the vegetation and climate in 
Texas. The Atascoso flows into the Rio Trio, a tributary 
of the Nueces. The country there is — or was at that 
time — quite wild and uncultivated, mostly covered with 
wood, consisting of scattered very old trees and a thick 
growth of young ones. The soil is formed of an upper 
stratum of sand, beneath which is a layer of black humus. 



Chap. I. ADVENTURES OF A YOUNG GERMAN. 439 

My friend added the following observations : — This coun- 
try was once covered with forest, which was destroyed by 
fires in the prairie, with the exception of those trees which 
had already reached a very considerable size, and therefore 
resisted the effects of the fire. Thus, the driftsands of the 
adjacent sandy regions had free access, and overflowed the 
humus on the surface. The woodlands were changed into 
a sandy desert, with some old scattered trees. The prairie- 
fires have ceased, since the increasing white population has 
driven back and partly exterminated the Indians, and a 
new growth of young wood has been formed, in addition to 
the old trees that remained after the fire. I learned, at 
the same time, that thick trunks of old trees are found 
everywhere in the large sandy Cactus region, between the 
Nueces and the Rio Grande ; that there, likewise, a strip 
„of humus is found under the sand layer on the surface, 
and that latterly there, too, a young vegetation of trees 
has begun to spring up, — phenomena which are explained 
in the same manner. 

I made several excursions in the neighbourhood with a 
young architect, whose wanderings during the space of four 
or five years border on the incredible. Mr. K. was a pupil 
of the Berlin Industrial School (Gewerbeschule), when the 
events of 1848 broke in upon his studies. He took part 
in several events at Berlin, left Prussia, passed through 
Austria to Hungary, and by way of Turkey to Rome. On 
his flight thence he went to Sicily, and thence to Tunis. 
He then crossed to Spain, travelled on foot through the 
Pyrensean peninsula and to France, embarked at Havre to 
Hamburgh, but deeming it not the most prudent course to 
remain there, he sailed for America. He landed at New 
York, took part in the expedition of General Lopez to 
Cuba, fled to Texas, and there joined the expedition of 



440 PRINCE BONAPARTE. Book III. 

the Mexican revolutionist Caravajal. When I made the 
acquaintance of this young man at San Antonio, he was 
settling down to a more quiet life, and a more promising 
career as architect. I could not but regret that such elas- 
ticity of mind, combined with many other good qualities, 
could not be employed with more advantage to the world. 
I was present at San Antonio at an elegant ball, given 
to celebrate the wedding of a couple from New Orleans. 
Among the numerous guests a young officer of the United 
States interested me particularly ; a tall man, of a serious, 
pleasing expression of countenance, and simple manners. 
This was Prince Bonaparte, a grandson of Jerome, by his 
marriage with Miss Patterson, of Baltimore. He had 
been recently quartered in one of the Texan frontier forts, 
and was now on his way to visit his cousin, the Emperor 
of France. Among the ladies of the party was the widow 
of a man who has left behind in Texas the character of a 
reckless desperado. His widow, a Mexican by birth, is 
universally respected; and the unhesitating manner in 
which she defended the door when the officers were in 
pursuit of her wicked husband, after a murder he had com- 
mitted in the open street, and the very centre of the town, 
was looked upon by the population as a meritorious act, 
rather than a reproach. I have mentioned the name of 
Glanton, in connexion with some measures against the In- 
dians on the part of the government of Chihuahua. Before 
this man went to Chihuahua, and thence to the Californian 
Colorado, he resided in Texas, and was one of the most 
reckless and wicked of a band of murderers and gamblers, 
who for many years made San Antonio one of the most 
dangerous places. He shot men for sport on the high 
road. Once, when after an act of this kind he was on the 
point of being arrested, he was rescued by an armed band 



Chap. I. TEXAN DESPERADOES. 441 

of gamblers, and the intimidated or partial jury returned a 
verdict of " Not Guilty." Nearly all the new territories 
of the United States have been obliged to pass through 
such a period, until the reign of terror has grown in- 
tolerable, and the quiet and peaceable part of the popula- 
lation have expelled or hanged the culprits. This happened 
soon after in Texas. 

Whilst Glanton usually attacked or murdered weak 
and defenceless men, another of the Texan desperadoes 
distinguished himself by a certain noble generosity. When- 
ever he fell into a quarrel and drew the revolver, he would 
ask his adversary, " Are you armed ?" And whenever 
the answer was in the negative, Bill Hardy desisted from 
any violence. After numerous murders, he was taken 
prisoner in one of the small towns on the Texan shore of 
the Rio Grande, brought to trial, and sentenced to death. 
His friends succeeded in conveying to him a loaded re- 
volver, and when about to be removed from the prison, he 
with this weapon put the guard, and others present, to flight, 
and was thus free. But instead of escaping across the 
river into Mexico, he returned slowly and calmly into his 
prison, and hanged himself. He is said to have uttered 
these words: — " The world is so full of cowardly rabble 
that it is not worth while to live/' Even if no one heard 
this expression, it characterizes, at least, the reputation in 
which the man was held. 



442 MONEY TRANSPORT. Book III. 



CHAPTEE II. 

The Author returns to the Coast — Money-transport on the Matagorda Bay — 
" A Norther," and an Opportunity of getting warm in it — Starting of 
the Caravan from Port Lavaca — Fragment of the Author's Diary, charac- 
terizing a Texan Journey by Freight- waggons — Arrival of the Caravan 
at San Antonio. 

Business affairs connected with the loading of our waggons 
at Port Lavaca, obliged me early in December to return 
to the coast from San Antonio. The disorder caused by the 
yellow fever in the stores of our agent, the damage done 
by the weather to the contents of chests and bales which 
had lain unprotected, and other circumstances, occasioned 
a very vexatious loss of time. I was directed to hasten as 
much as possible the departure of the caravan from the 
coast, and on the 5th arrived at Lavaca. 

The following day I was obliged to hire a boat, and in 
spite of a " Norther " setting in, to cross the Bay of Mata- 
gorda, to convey a transport of Mexican dollars to the 
steam-boat " Perseverance " lying at Indianola. This 
business was accompanied with various unpleasant circum- 
stances. The boatman asked me, when we were in the 
middle of the bay, how I could have ventured to trust 
myself with so much money to strangers like him and his 
men; adding, that he would advise me not to try the same 
with just any boatmen on the Texan coast. The money 
was, in the Mexican fashion, sown into bags of undrest 
ox-hides, which, when dry, are as hard as bone, and thus 
form an extremely solid package. But the mice had 
nibbled the skins, so that the bright dollars were visible, of 
which three thousand were stowed in each bag. Any one 



Chap. II. A NORTHER. 443 

might have easily enlarged the holes with his fingers, and 
filled his pockets. I had to be very watchful, and keep 
my eye on the bags : and I felt no little anxiety in thinking 
how the money was to reach in safety its destination at 
New Orleans. I afterwards heard that not a dollar was 
missing : a fact which will interest those who, in matters of 
property, consider American morals worse than European. 
No person would have been answerable for losses caused 
by bad packing. The violent wind also kept me in con- 
stant fear for the money ; for the boat rocked about so, that 
I was afraid the money-bags standing on the deck might 
slide into the sea. The deck had no railing, but the boat- 
men thought my fears unfounded. At the same time the 
violence and cold of the norther were so great, that, with 
the little protection afforded by the boat, I should not have 
lived through the night on the water. On landing, I was 
so frozen as hardly to be able to walk. I went to a Ger- 
man inn, warmed myself with some tea, and went to bed. 
But scarcely had I fallen asleep, when I was awakened 
by a bright glare, and saw just before my windows a 
whole group of houses in flames. I was quickly in the 
road, where the norther blew so violently that my back was 
icy cold, whilst the skin of my face was scorched by the 
fire of the burning houses. 

On the 10th, the first attempt was made to put to our 
animals, — a task which occupied the whole day, without 
even stirring the waggons. The following day the caravan 
was at last put into motion ; but how this was effected will 
be seen from the following extract from my Diary, which 
I subjoin, to give an idea of the toils of such a journey. I 
beg the reader not to consider this unworthy his perusal, 
though it leads him into the low details of a waggoner's 
life ; and if, whilst reading it, he should be enjoying the 



444 FBAGMENT OF Book III. 

comforts of civilized and refined life, may he realize the 
contrast of his situation with mine at that time, and con- 
vince himself that, in Europe, the knowledge of man's 
physical, and, in many respects, his moral powers also, is 
attained in exceptional cases only. It is true the soldier 
during a campaign has to suffer similar hardships, some- 
times still more severe : but he does not undergo these of 
his free will, not even when he has entered the army 
as a volunteer ; and consequently he has seldom to give, 
for any length of time, the whole strength of his will. Not 
one of our party was bound ; for the laws of the United 
States would have afforded us no coercive remedy if sud- 
denly all our people had left us in the midst of our diffi- 
culties. Some of our people — Europeans by birth — 
actually did this. The following is the extract from my 
Diary : — 

December Mtli. — -Men and beasts were obliged to fast 
from early yesterday until this morning. All worked 
without ceasing. I have been crippled this morning by 
rheumatism. In spite of every exertion we have not 
advanced more than a thousand paces during the day. In 
the evening half the waggons remained scattered in the 
road. Two drivers, disheartened by the toils at the outset, 
have left their horses and waggons in the road, and dis- 
appeared. 

12th. — The caravan has been with difficulty put, and 
kept, in motion. It begins to rain. Half the waggons 
proceed about five English miles from the town, and there 
encamp ; the others remain scattered on the road. 

13th. — The waggons which remained behind are fetched, 
and in the evening all are formed into a camp. Torrents 
of rain. It is out of the question to think of proceeding. 



Chap. IT. THE AUTHOR'S DIART. 445 

The camp is quickly under water. It is impossible to make 
a fire, and our people yesterday ate for breakfast our last 
cooked food. All business in the camp is transacted upon 
the knees in water and mud. 

14£/i. — Two of the axletrees, which snapped two days 
ago, could not be repaired till to-day. From time to time 
torrents of rain. The water rises in the camp. 

15th. — Impossible to get out of this hole full of water 
and mud. We live on raw ham and ships' biscuits, and 
drink the muddy water in which we and our animals wade 
about. We have ordered a hunded yoke of oxen to help 
in extricating our waggons, but the promised aid does not 
come. 

16th. — The rain continues. We must get away at all 
hazards, and a desperate effort must be made. Doubling 
the teams, we get half the waggons as far as Prairie Cottage, 
— a small isolated dwelling in the prairie. I mount guard 
during the night, with two Mexican lads, beside the 
waggons. 

17 th. — The rest of the waggons are brought up, and 
this labour continues till two o'clock p.m. No advance 
to-day. 

ISth. — This morning the ground covered with hoar- 
frost. By dint of great effort, the caravan proceeds to- 
day three miles. 

19th. — The mules are in danger of perishing for want 
of provender. The grass of the prairies, ordinarily dead 
and without nourishment, begins to rot. I ride on to Vic- 
toria to purchase a few waggon-loads of maize for the ani- 
mals, and to hire some hundred yoke of draught- oxen. 

20th. — The road to Victoria almost impassable. I 
make some acquaintances in the hotel, to find out how 
and where I can obtain what I want ; and at table I fall 



446 FKAGMENT OF Book in. 

in with some "old Texans." I give here a specimen of 
their jokes and tales. " To be worse than I am," said one 
to another, " is what I call perfectly ridiculous. I am 
sometimes ashamed of myself; and to be so I must be 
bad indeed ; but Bill is still worse, and this I call ridicu- 
lous." This man called out to another, during the con- 
versation, " Don't be afraid, fool ! I never killed a man 
half as white as you are." The conversations of these 
bravos drew my attention to a female character of the 
Texan frontier life, and, on inquiry, I heard the following 
particulars. They were speaking of a North American 
amazon, a perfect female desperado, who from inclination 
has chosen for her residence the wild border-country 
on the Bio Grande. She can handle a revolver and 
bowie-knife like the most reckless and skilful man ; she 
appears at dances (fandangos) thus armed, and has even 
shot several men at merry-makings. She carries on 
the trade of a cattle-dealer, and common carrier. She 
drives wild horses from the prairie to market, and takes 
her oxen-waggon, alone, through the ill-reputed country 
between Corpus Christi and the Bio Grande. 

21st. — I rode in vain to all the farms in the neighbour- 
hood : the folks would not let out their draught-oxen, fear- 
ing to lose them on the bad roads. 

22nd. — Be turn to the waggons without having suc- 
ceeded, and find them encamped beside a small deep brook, 
in the prairie called the Zorillo. On their arrival, the 
mules had been unyoked during a violent norther ; and in 
consequence of the sudden chill several of them died in 
less than half an hour. Fortunately maize has arrived for 
the animals. Our Mexicans are merry in the midst of toils 
and privations : this evening I hear them singing till late 
at night. "Are we not brave fellows?" exclaims one: 



Chap. II. THE AUTHOE'S DIARY. 447 

" we sing, whether it be cold or warm, whether we be wet 
or dry, and whether we have food or not." 

23rd. — It has rained all night. In the morning the 
clouds break. We remain encamped, and feed our mules 
on maize. 

24th. — The night very cold, with a violent north-wind. 
We still remain here for the animals to rest. An unplea- 
sant Christmas-eve in the barren prairie. 

25th. — We start in the morning at eight o'clock, with 
half the waggons and double teams, and proceed to within 
three English miles of Victoria, when the other waggons 
are fetched up. A. farmer of the neighbourhood, with his 
wife, comes in a coach to visit our camp, and brings us a 
few bottles of egg-punch. 

26th. — Pass through Victoria to the Guadalupe. From 
Lavaca to this place the distance is about thirty English 
miles, — a journey which we performed in sixteen days. 

27th. — The waggons are ferried across the Guadalupe, 
which occupies the day. Meanwhile ten of our men are 
at work mending the road on the other side of the river. 

28th. — The mules are ferried across in the forenoon. 
The rainy weather is over. A splendid clear sky, warm 
sun, and mild air. Seven waggons are taken on to the 
prairie from the lower land. 

29th. — Cold night, beautiful morning. The other wag- 
gons are brought up. The soil on the banks of the Gua- 
dalupe is a stiff black clay, which in bad weather is almost 
impassable. 

30th. — Continue our journey, and in the evening cross 
the Coleto. 

31st. — From the Coleto to the Manahuia. The wag- 
gons sink deep into the wet sand of the prairie, as soon as 
they at all leave the beaten road. 



448 FKAGMENT OF Book III. 

January 1st, 1854. — Night very cold, — day warm. 
Cross the Manahuia ; a bed of quicksand, like that of the 
Coleto. Encamp for the night near Goliad. 

2nd. — Frost during the night. Proceed from Goliad to 
"Water Holes," where there is standing water in the 
prairie. 

3rd. — Warm night. The mild temperature has brought 
a few rattlesnakes out of their holes in the earth. 

4th. — Continued warm weather. We proceed nearly 
as far as Helena, a small new town on the river San 
Antonio. 

5th. — A very warm night. The mosquitoes disturb 
our rest. Old Lopez is stung (?) in the face by a poi- 
sonous creature — scorpion or millipede. The place is 
somewhat inflamed and swollen. The man turns giddy, 
falls down, cannot rise again, and his tongue is speechless. 
The universal remedy, brandy, is resorted to ; but we 
have only half a pint left. The day is very close. To- 
wards evening the most fearful storm suddenly comes on 
from the north that I have ever seen in Texas. From a 
temperature like that of a pleasant summer-day (certainly 
not under 75° to 80° Fahrenheit), the air falls in less than 
ten minutes to freezing point; or, more correctly, ice is 
formed upon the wet surfaces which are exposed to the 
wind. I was on horseback, without coat or neckcloth, when 
I saw a thick mist approaching us, whilst the air began to 
show currents of unequal temperature. I had scarcely 
time to put on my coat, and tie a kerchief round my neck, 
when the icy storm burst on us with great violence. We 
happily succeeded in reaching the valley of the Cibulo, 
but after unharnessing several mules again perished with 
cold. 

6th. — Stopped by the violent storm. Sleet (candelilla) 



Chap. . THE AUTHOR'S DIARY. 449 

begins to fall. One of our Mexicans, an old man, who 
had suffered for a week from dysentery, sent for me last 
night with a message that he was dying. I went to him, 
when he declared that he was at the point of death — not 
however from illness, but from want of food (" por falta de 
alimento"). I had forbidden his eating dried beans (frijoles). 
"I must have my little beans" (" mes frijolitos "), said he, 
in a mournful tone which I could not resist. I allowed 
him to eat as many beans as he pleased, a permission of 
which he availed himself fully : from that moment he got 
better. 

7th. — Continued storm from the north, with sleet, still 
prevent our travelling. Several mules are missing, which 
have run away from the drove to seek shelter from the 
inclement weather. Several of our people are gone out in 
quest of other animals, which from the same cause ran 
away some days ago. We have no men and saddle 
animals left to send in search of the draught cattle. 

8th. — The north wind has passed ; the storm has ceased. 
The night has been calm, and the country was covered 
this morning with ice and hoar-frost. We start, and travel 
without intermission the whole day until we come to a halt 
near a group of dwellings, belonging to some Mexican 
Texans, about a thousand paces from the Kio de San 
Antonio. In the vicinity is a lagoon, covered with thou- 
sands of wild-geese, and on the shore of which are large 
flocks of cranes. Last night I had a violent attack of 
fever, but to-day I am quite well again, and we are sitting 
this evening round a large camp-fire, in the best spirits 
possible. Don Guillermo has shot two wild turkeys, 
which, cooked with rice, make an excellent meal. 

9th. — A pleasant and quiet night, although in the 
morning the ground was thickly covered with hoar-frost. 

2 Q 



450 ARRIVAL AT SAN ANTONIO. Book III. 

We ride over hills of tertiary sandstone and conglomerate, 
with oaks scattered here and there. Several deep hol- 
lowed watercourses impede our journey to-day. We get 
as far as the Arroyo de Calaveras. 

IGtL—It takes us six hours to cross this little river. On 
the prairie are several small lagoons, with innumerable 
water-fowl. We halt near one of them. 

11 th. — In the night, again the north-wind, but not so 
violent. We proceed to the Salado, were we remain, not 
to take our animals through the cold water in the evening. 

\2th. — We cross the river, and encamp on the other side. 

13th. — Reach San Antonio, and proceeded three miles 
beyond. 

I beg the Reader's excuses for these details, which, 
though in themselves of small interest, are the only means 
of giving a lively and general idea of a Texan waggon- 
journey in the winter. 

It took us thirty-three days to travel a distance of at 
most a hundred and sixty miles, so that we did not even 
proceed five miles a day. During this time we suffered 
almost daily hunger, cold, and wet, and often to an intoler- 
able degree. Violent attacks of illness seized several per- 
sons in our caravan ; but in every instance the patient 
recovered, although in the open air, exposed to wind and 
rain, hoar-frost and cold, on a hard bed, and with coarse 
food. Sleeping in wet clothes, which I was often obliged 
to do, gave me severe rheumatism, which however passed 
as quickly as the attacks were violent, leaving no un- 
pleasant consequences. 

These last remarks I have added to encourage those of 
my readers who may desire to make a similar journey of 
pleasure. 



Chap. III. RIO FRIO. 451 



CHAPTER III. 

Journey from San Antonio to El Paso — Appearance of Trap in the Limestone — 
A suspicious-looking Hermit — A Tanko Indian — A warm ' Xorther ' — 
Fossil Fish — Geese and Pelicans — Turkeys, Eagles, and Beavers — Meet- 
ing with Friends on the Pecos — Human Skeletons — Road to El Paso — 
Fire in the Prairie — Warm AVind, Dust, and Electric Sparks — Electrical 
Phenomena — Snow Storm — Valleys and Defiles of the Limpias — Limpia 
Porphyry — Harmony in the Physiognomy of Nature — Meeting with 
Apaches — Alamos de San Juan — A Human Corpse — Scenery on the 
Summit of the Plateau — Hardships of travelling — The Dead Man's Hole 
■ — Metalliferous Veins — Eagle Mountains and Eagle Spring — Yucca- wood 
— The Rio Grande — A rocky Defile — Gypsum Formation in the Alluvial 
Masses — Arrival at the Settlements — San Eleazario — Socorro, Ysleta, 
and El Paso. 

We were detained at San Antonio by various affairs until 
the 19th of January, when the camp at the Alazan broke 
up, and the caravan proceeded on their journey. 

As far as the watering-place Agua Delgada, mentioned 
in a former chapter, we followed the road by which I had 
travelled in the spring from Chihuahua. I will make only 
a few remarks on this portion of the journey. 

We travelled the distance to that place in thirty-five 
days. As far as the Bio Frio, the most considerable tri- 
butary of the Nueces, nothing of importance occurred. 
But the spot where the road crosses this river deserves 
mention. Like most of the streams in this part of the 
country, the Rio Frio is successively deep and shallow, in 
one part appearing a considerable stream, in another a 
small brook. At the point where the road crosses it, a 
plain stretches out at the foot of a perpendicular hill. On 
the opposite flat shore grew oaks and nut-trees, and the 
whole spot presents a very interesting landscape, especially 

2 G 2 



452 A SUSPICIOUS-LOOKING HEEMIT. Book III. 

to the geologist. From the Sabinal, eruptions of trap 
are seen on the road. Here, on the Rio Frio, a distinctly 
separated eruptive mass branches out like veins into the 
adjacent stratified rock. This latter has undergone a 
change from contact with the trap, and appears as a cel- 
lular weather-worn, frequently green, breccia-like mass. 
The trap, on the contrary, is in parts blue, with fibrous fila- 
ments, like Arragonite, Coelestine, or Serpentine Asbestos, 
running through it like a net. At Fort Inge, another eruptive 
mass is visible in the limestone, forming a conical hill of a 
grey kind of porphyritic trap with feldspar and augit ; and 
similar eruptions of trap are seen between Elm Creek and 
Fort Clark. 

In climbing about the trap rock on the Rio Frio, I 
seemed to have struck upon a kind of path, which I con- 
jectured to be the track of a bear ; I followed it with eager 
attention, till it led me to the edge of a perpendicular 
precipice. At the base, the wall receded so much that 
it was not visible, and appeared, from the place on which 
I was standing, overhung with the rock ; over which, during 
rains, the water rushes down. To the right and left of 
this spot the rock rises from the deep water of the river, 
while here a small flat beach lies between it and the 
wall. The locality, as may be imagined, is almost inac- 
cessible, being approachable only by swimming across 
the river, or climbing down the wall. Great was my 
surprise, therefore, when I perceived that this isolated spot 
was inhabited by a man. A path led from the overhang- 
ing rock to the water, on the banks of which lay some 
poles, which appeared to belong to some fisherman. 
Among the bushes I discerned the leafy roof of a hut, and 
once I fancied that I heard below a human voice. I re- 
called to mind the hut of the runaway negroes on Devil's 



Chap. III. A TANKO INDIAN. 453 

River, and the roasted human flesh, and I felt no desire 
to make any further search after the inhabitant of this 
retreat. 

At Fort Inge our camp was visited by an old 
Tanko Indian (Tancoway), who met several of our 
people in rather ill humour, and did not meet, there- 
fore, with a very friendly reception. On his giving 
the usual assurances of amity, one of our men re- 
plied, " You talk now of friendship, but if one of us fell 
into your power you would cut his throat." The man 
understood that our friend wanted to cut his throat, and 
looked enquiringly around the circle, to learn whether he 
had to expect this fate from all those present. When his 
eyes met mine my look probably assured him that I at 
least did not desire his blood ; he stretched out his hand 
to me, and embraced me, exclaiming repeatedly, and in an 
expressive manner, " Manito 1 " no doubt a corruption of 
the Spanish " Hermanito" i. e. " dear brother." He ap- 
peared now to be quieted, but he soon quitted our in- 
hospitable camp. On our arrival the next day at a village 
of the Tankos, on the Nueces, we found it deserted. The 
fires were still burning, and it was evident that our appear- 
ance had driven the inhabitants away. Whether the un- 
friendly treatment and misunderstanding of the old man 
had occasioned their flight, or the jokes of some of our 
people that they would visit the Tanko ladies, I know not. 

On our way from the Nueces to Turkey Creek we en- 
countered a violent north wind of a remarkably warm tem- 
perature. A warm norther seems a contradiction ; but the 
fact is easily explained by the supposition that the wind 
had made a circle, either in a vertical or in a horizontal 
direction, and that what met us as a wind from the north, 
had originally come from the south. 



454 TURKEYS, EAGLES, BEAVERS. Book lit. 

In a quarry on the road near Fort Clark, I found, among 
other indistinct petrifactions, the traces of small fishes, 
the structure of the fins and skin being still discernible : 
the latter was not scaled, but granulated like a shark's. 
The rock consists of alternate strata of dense limestone and 
thin slaty sand-marl. 

At Soquete Creek, a brook which is probably connected 
with Maverick's Creek, I saw some wild geese of a species 
quite new to me, and of an extraordinary size. We put 
up three still larger birds, which we at first took for swans, 
but were more probably pelicans : they were white, with 
black wings, and made a loud piercing scream. 

San Felipe is the name of a clear and rapid spring, 
which rises from limestone strata, and forms a charming 
little prairie river, running rapidly through the grass with 
frequent little cascades. In one deep hole I caught with a 
rod and line a cat-fish of considerable size. The family of 
the Silurides is numerously represented in all the rivers and 
brooks in this part by a variety of species. I described 
the vicinity of Devil's River at the end of the last Book, 
and will only observe here, that at this season (February) 
the valley contains large numbers of wild turkeys. Eagles, 
with white bodies and black wings, and of an extraordinary 
size, are seen hovering over the bushes in which the turkeys 
lie. Some of our best shots tried in vain to bring down 
one of these monarchs of the air ; the nearest shot carried 
off one of the large wing feathers. Our table was, however, 
well supplied with game during our journey over this tract. 
The wild turkey is a bird of the size and beauty of which 
the domestic one gives a very faint idea. Several stags 
were also shot by our sportsmen. I observed the marks 
of beavers' teeth on the trees upon the banks of the river ; a 
large sycamore-tree had been thrown down by these animals, 



Chap. III. HUMAN SKELETONS. 455 

and the bark was stript from many of its branches. Since 
we passed this way in the spring, a great number of 
Indians must have resided here. 1 In several places we 
found groups of deserted huts, which had not been there 
on our previous visit. 

We travelled without stopping from hence to Howard 
Springs, a distance of forty-five miles, from eight o'clock 
in the morning till two o'clock the following morning. 
I had been on guard from four to six o'clock in the 
morning before starting, and, on our arrival at the next en- 
campment, my turn to mount guard was from two to four 
o'clock in the morning. I had therefore at that time been 
on active duty quite twenty-four hours. Four hours' sleep 
however sufficed to banish all my fatigue. 

On the Pecos we fell in with an encounter which agree- 
ably broke the monotony of the journey. A caravan came 
up, in which we recognised some friends, who had come 
from the point to which we were travelling, and we had, 
consequently, occasion to interchange much important 
information. 

On the Ojo de Ahuancha (Comanche Spring) we found 
four human skeletons, and at a little distance a fifth. 
We were afterwards informed that, since our journey in 
the spring, several men, on their route from California, 
had been killed by the Comanches. The Indians offered 
for sale, at the Presidio del Norte, some of the articles 
they had stolen from travellers, and boasted of the exploit. 

I must here explain the name of the watering-place 
where the road to the Presidio separates from that to El 
Paso. I have before called this place Agua Delgada, and 



1 In 1857 this valley was again the J in which the troops of the United States 
scene of hloody battles with the Indians, J even suffered considerable loss. 



456 FIRE IN THE PRAIRIE. Book III. 

I retain that name. The North-American and Texan 
maps call it Lion Springs, whilst the Mexicans apply this 
name — in its Spanish form, Ojo del Leon — to the first 
watering-place on the road from hence to the Presidio ; 
and they call the spot at which the road divides Agua 
Delgada. I imagine the older and more correct name 
has been retained by Mexican travellers. 

At this encampment we narrowly escaped a great 
peril. Our waggons had halted in the long and dry 
grass, in which there were occasional barren spots; on 
these we made our fires. Mr. K. feared that the grass 
might catch fire, and I was growing quite impatient at 
his continual expressions of fear, when suddenly my eye 
fell on a spot where the grass had just caught the flames. 
I ran to extinguish them, but could not master them, in 
spite of buffetting them till I was quite exhausted : no 
sooner had I smothered the fire before me, than it rose up 
behind. The hot air which I inhaled burnt my mouth 
and throat, and I nearly lost my consciousness : my 
hair and beard were burnt, and I should have been 
compelled to abandon the field to the devouring element, 
had not twenty or thirty men hastened up with blankets, 
who succeeded, at least, in arresting the flames on the 
side of the waggons, though unable to stop their course 
on the other side. The mules were driven to shelter in 
time, and we had now nothing more to fear. Had the 
assistance come a minute later, our waggons would most 
probably all have been burnt, and the lives of the whole 
caravan been in danger. How much further the fire may 
have spread I know not. 

I must relate our journey to El Paso more in detail, as 
it leads me upon new ground : it occupied twenty-eight 
days. 



Chap. III. ELECTRICAL PHENOMENA. 457 

From the watering-place, we first proceeded to a deso- 
late plateau, covered with grey bushes and scanty grass, 
where we saw large herds of antelopes. In a few hours 
we reached a level tract, upon the bare clay soil of which 
grew, here and there, an Opuntia arborescens. In the 
distance rose the Limpia Mountains, to which our road 
lay. At their foot we observed some columns of smoke- 
Indian signals, as we ascertained some days later. During 
the journey the sky was overcast with dark clouds, which, 
with a sultry air, seemed to indicate the approach of 
a thunderstorm. Some large drops of rain fell : a 
violent gale filled the air with such clouds of dust 
that we were almost stifled, and our caravan was quite 
darkened. Later, when night came on, our clothes and 
the harness emitted electric sparks when stirred : every 
lash of the whip on the animals' backs was a small streak of 
fire. I have often witnessed similar electrical phenomena 
in the interior of North America, and have before spoken 
of them ; but have never seen them exhibited in so striking 
a manner as on this day (February 24th) on the plain of 
the eastern foot of the Limpia Mountains : sparks from 
my fingers were at times quite perceptible when I touched 
any part of my clothes. I may here observe that, coin- 
ciding with these electrical phenomena, I repeatedly felt a 
sudden rheumatic affection, which all at once paralyzed, 
temporarily, my left leg, and gave me a violent headache. 
The former attack, happily, never lasted above one or two 
hours. 

We continued our route till about two o'clock in the 
morning, during which time the warm air was succeeded 
by an icy north wind, accompanied by a snow-storm, 
which obliged us to halt for twenty-four hours. Our 
animals had all this time no water, but they appeared 



458 VALLEYS AND DEFILES OF THE LIMPIAS. Book III. 

to suffer little from this want, either from the dampness of 
the atmosphere, or that they allayed their thirst with 
snow-water. The next day the weather was again mild, 
the snow was melted, and we continued our journey. 

As I was riding in advance of the caravan, I saw 
three mountain-sheep, one of which I might have killed if 
I had ventured to follow them ; but, at a distance, I 
mistook the animals for bears, and confess that I had no 
desire to encounter three of these beasts alone. When I 
discovered my error they were too high up between the 
rocks. 

We had now entered the Limpia Mountains, from which 
the Limpia Valley opens upon the plain. The Mexi- 
cans call a series of springs and pools of water along a line 
of valleys and defiles " Las Limpias ; " through them 
our route now lay for several days : the word may, per- 
haps, be best translated " the clear waters." This mountain 
forms part of the porphyritic range, over which, in a 
southern section, the road leads to the Presidio del Norte, 
through the pass I have before described, under the name 
of the Puerto del Paisano. The Guadalupe Mountains, 
across which, further north, another route passes from Texas 
to the Rio Grande, are connected with this chain. Another 
part of it bears the name of Sierra del Diablo — u the 
Devil's Mountain," a designation which would not be in- 
appropriate to the entire range. The long rocky passage 
through which the El Paso road crosses the mountains, or, 
perhaps a certain part of it, is called by the North 
Americans the " Wild Rose Pass." It probably more 
especially designates the pass over a certain yoke of moun- 
tains, called by the Mexicans the Cuesta de las Limpias. 
This, however, is not the central pass over the chain : it 
only cuts off a bend and an impassable part of the valley. 



Chap. III. LIMPIA PORPHYRY. 459 

In this the traveller proceeds through a series of long 
defiles and narrow clefts, till he unawares reaches the 
western side of the range, and the actual summit of the 
plateau on this side of the Eio Grande. 

From the western foot of the chain the water of the 
rainy season runs through this succession of valleys and 
defiles to the plain at its eastern foot, where it loses itself. 
In the dry season, on the contrary, the traveller is de- 
pendent on some insignificant springs and accidental pools 
of water, and the consequence of wandering from the route 
might very probably be death from thirst. 

At the point where we entered the mountains from the 
plain, a lofty mountain rose on our right, at the east foot of 
which horizontal strata of limestone bordered on the por- 
phyry. Whether they belong to the cretaceous or the 
Jurassic formation, both of which are represented here, I 
do not know ; but the porphyry of the Limpia Mountains 
is certainly older than these limestone strata, which I 
noticed in many places covered with pieces of flint. 

On our left commenced a range of porphyritic rocks, 
which, seen from a height, looked like a vault cleft longi- 
tudinally, and, consequently, like a double row of rocks, 
with a deep fissure between. 

In several places there are evident indications that the 
masses of porphyry, of which this whole system is formed, 
have originally spread in horizontal sheets over the under- 
lying rocks, and that similar casts of melted matter have 
occurred repeatedly one over the other. The highest, or, 
at least, the most imposing mountain in this part- 
Whiting's Peak — -with others of a similar altitude near 
it, are capped by sheets of porphyry in their original 
horizontal position ; and below we find successive terraces 
of the same rock in a similar horizontal position. On the 



460 HARMONY OF NATURE, Book III. 

north side of Whiting's Peak, and between it and another 
similar mountain in its neighbourhood, the whole system 
of these repeated casts of melted matter has sunk in, and 
a valley has been formed towards the centre, of which the 
sheets of porphyry are inclined from both sides at the same 
angle. 

This simple arrangement is visible, however, only from 
a little distance. When near, it is hidden in a chaos of the 
most astonishing forms of separation, which may be com- 
pared to basaltic columns, but exhibit an extraordinary 
variety of shape. The perpendicular walls are divided 
into an infinity of columns, pinnacles, cones, towers, 
spindles, shafts, oval and rhomboidal portions : a moun- 
tain scenery of the strangest character. In general, the 
Limpia passes are among the most interesting things in 
nature I have ever seen. 

I was struck by the wonderful harmony and unity of 
the physiognomic elements which compose the landscape. 
Nature appears here, more than anywhere else I have 
seen, like a landscape-painter, composing a picture with 
the most simple yet refined taste. For instance, on the 
pinnacles and turrets of the brown rock is found a species 
of juniper, which, in its growth, seems to imitate the 
strange forms of the mineral masses. In other parts of this 
remarkable region, where the Gothic style of the masses 
of rock passes into the antique — their rocky walls resem- 
bling gigantic steps with broad grass-grown mountain- 
terraces — the character of the vegetation likewise changes 
in a corresponding manner. The pointed juniper-tree is 
succeeded by the oak, with its spreading, umbrageous 
crown, decorating the sunny turf in small groups among 
the rocks. 

I shall now return to our entrance into the valley of the 



Chap. HI. MEETING WITH APACHES. 461 

Limpias, after the snow-storm. The first watering-place to 
be looked for, a little spring among the rocks on its north- 
ern side, known to the Mexicans by the name of Agua 
Escondida, or Los Barriles, was still about two English 
miles distant, and our animals had not tasted a drop of 
water for two days. On a sudden our progress was stopped 
by a band of eighty to a hundred Apaches, all well-armed. 
They rode directly across our road, and stuck a lance into 
the ground, as a sign that we were not allowed to proceed. 
Hitherto we had only had to contend with natural obstacles, 
but it appeared now that we should have to cut our way 
by force of arms. The meeting presented a very exciting 
scene. As soon as the advanced party of our caravan 
perceived the Indians descending a hill in regular file, 
and carrying a banner before them, the foremost waggons 
at once began to form into a corral, as the cry of " Los 
Indios!" ran quickly through our train, from the van to 
the rear, where I happened to be. I had dismounted, 
intending to proceed a little way on foot, and had left my 
fire-arms in the waggon. On a sudden this cry reached 
my ears, and I saw all our waggons driving off at full 
gallop. The teams of mules, with the bell-mares and loose 
animals, dashed past me. The entire caravan hurried to 
the spot where the corral was being formed, and I saw 
myself left behind alone and unarmed, whilst the Indians 
began to advance from their centre, a wing right and left, 
to surround us in a wide circle. With the utmost exertion 
and difficulty I just succeeded in reaching the corral before 
being cut off. 

Matters, however, had meanwhile taken a more peace- 
able turn than we had at first anticipated. Our move- 
ments had been made with great rapidity and order ; and 
although some of our Mexicans had behaved in a cowardly 



462 MEETING WITH APACHES. Book III. 

manner — doing nothing, at the most critical moment, but 
rub flour over their faces, probably that the Indians might 
take them for whites — still we numbered thirty good 
shots, planted behind our waggons, all armed with guns ; 
and the savages would have come off badly had they ven- 
tured to attack us. They might, perhaps, have calculated 
all this beforehand, and determined to try, at least, to 
frighten us, and thus to induce us to make them liberal 
presents. 

This band of Indians had two chiefs — the brothers 
Marcos and Soldadito — notorious names. They belonged 
to the Mescaleros, and had formerly lived on the shores of 
the Rio Grande, near the Presidio del Norte, where, for a 
long time, they were the terror of the country around, 
until they were driven into the wilderness of Texas by the 
Nortenos, and their allies the Comanches. I afterwards 
heard that the remnant of the band of the notorious Espejo 
had joined them, against whom, nine months before, the 
war-party of Nortenos and Comanches, whom we had met 
near the Presidio, were marching. 

As soon as I had a little recovered from my fatigue, I 
went up to the group, where the two chiefs were in treaty 
with my companions. There I saw the lance which had 
been stuck into the ground : the long blond hair of a white 
woman they had murdered was fluttering from it in the 
wind; the end was formed of an old sword-blade, bear- 
ing the inscription, " Por el Rey Carlos III." A Mexican 
prisoner acted as interpreter at this conference, and through 
his mediation Marcos harangued Don Guillermo, who had 
undertaken to act the part of " Captain." " You are a 
rich man," said the Apache : "your waggons roll over the 
country like thunder. We have seen you from our moun- 
tains crossing the plains. You sit by your fires and smoke 



Chap. III. MEETING WITH APACHES. 463 

much tobacco. We are poor and peaceable : we also like 
smoking tobacco. We are your friends." A liberal pre- 
sent of tobacco then sealed our terms of peace and friend- 
ship. Old Soldadito took great pains to make me 
understand that we had no longer anything to fear from 
them. He laid his head in his hand, with his eyes shut, 
whilst pronouncing the word " Seguro !" in order to give 
me to understand that we might sleep in safety. "Don't 
you think," he added, through the interpreter, " that we 
could have plundered you and killed many of you ? We 
have watched you for many days, and have been in your 
neighbourhood. But we are not ill-disposed to you : you 
can travel on without fear ; yon will not see us any more." 
At first the whole troop — which had been considerably 
increased by the women and boys who had come up, and 
who were as well armed as the men- — wanted to accompany 
us to the watering-place ; but, on our objecting to this, the 
chiefs at once yielded to our wishes. One of them said a 
few words to his people, and immediately the whole troop 
dispersed, singly or in couples, to all sides ; and, in fact, 
we did not see them again. Before and behind us they 
have robbed and murdered, but from us they have not 
taken a single mule. 

After the excitement of the day, and our previous suffer- 
ings from the weather, we passed a tranquil night at our 
watering-place, which refreshed and rested both man and 
beast. For four days we continued our journey through 
the Limpia defiles, until we came out on to the plateau 
west of the mountain-chain on the 3rd of March. The 
topographical details of this journey would tire the reader 
too much, and I have already given a general description 
of the natural features of this remarkable country. 

One great evil, from which we had suffered sufficiently 



464 ALAMOS DE SAN JUAN. Book III. 

in the valleys, was increased when we reached the plateau. 
Over a wide tract, on mountain, valley, and plain, the 
grass had been burnt, so that our animals suffered greatly 
from want. Here and there only were some remains of 
the old grass, and in a few of the most favoured spots the 
young grass was springing up. The burnt-up tract ex- 
tended over hundreds of square miles ; and where this 
desolation terminated, the ravages of the prairie-marmots 
commenced, and spread over an equal extent of ground. 

The want of water increased greatly as we proceeded. 
Several caravans with waggons drawn by oxen, and large 
droves of cattle, on their route to California, had at this 
time lost hundreds, nay thousands of their beasts in these 
very parts, and the road was strewn with their bones. 

The last watering-place of the Limpia range (on the 
plateau to the west of the denies) is called by the North 
Americans " Head of the Limpias." I am not sure whe- 
ther this is not the same spot to which the Mexicans have 
given the name of Alamos de San Juan. At all events 
the two spots, if not the same, are situated close to 
one another. We halted at the Alamos, where — in a 
depression of the plateau, at the foot of rocky hills with 
interesting detached masses of porphyry, enclosed by a 
grove of old poplars and surrounded by evergreen oaks — 
we came to a copious spring. Some of our people rambled 
over the hills, where they found among the rocks the 
naked corpse of a white man, which appeared to have been 
lying there for several days. The place bore traces of a 
desperate fight, but we had no time to search into the 
matter further. As the corpse was not scalped, it seems 
that the murderer was no Indian. 

Proceeding hence, we came to a barren, high plain, with 
single mountains and isolated rocks, mostly of rounded 



Chap. III. THE DEAD MAN'S HOLE. 465 

forms. Masses of white quartz-rock, bordering on the 
brown porphyry, produced a strange effect in the land- 
scape. Unfortunately we travelled over this part in the 
night, and I regretted missing the view of the grand 
scenery of which the moonlight gave me a faint idea. 
Some of the views which we saw by day were of a truly 
classical beauty in outlines and grouping, notwithstanding 
the absence of trees and shrubs. The same monotonous 
grass steppe extended over hill and valley, over plain and 
mountain, day after day, as far as the eye could reach. 

A difficult route led us uphill and downhill over the 
rocky spurs of a mountain range, until we at length came 
to a lower terrace of the plateau. In a state of exhaustion 
we reached a dried-up brook at midnight, where we had 
fully reckoned upon finding water. There we spent the 
following day, in digging wells and watering our animals. 
It is impossible to give an idea of the difficulty of this 
task : each single animal had to be caught with the lazo, 
led down to the deep and rocky bed of the brook, and 
there to drink out of the bucket ; and we had about three 
hundred and twenty animals ! Before the turn of the last 
one came, the first were thirsty again. The two divisions 
of the droves, — those which had already drunken, and those 
which were still to be watered, — had to be kept separate, 
— an almost impossible task ! whilst all the while a strong 
armed guard had to be placed over them. No man could 
give a moment for repose ; and even the hands needed to 
prepare the food could hardly be spared. 

We had confounded this spot with the next watering- 
place, which bears the ominous name of " The Dead-Man's 
Hole,"— in Spanish, " El Muerto." The water at this last 
place seemed not to be much more abundant or accessible. 
A small valley extended for some miles between the ter- 

2 H 



466 VAN HORN'S WELLS. Book III. 

races of piled-up and columnar porphyry, the steps of 
which are covered with groups and groves of evergreen 
oaks. In narrow hollows the traveller is surprised by a 
remarkable shrub, a species of Arbutus, with smooth copper- 
red bark. Here, in a corner between the rocks and among 
the bushes, we discovered a spring trickling over the stones, 
filling some holes with a few pailsful of water. Fortunately 
one of our people found a larger spring in another valley, 
a few miles distant, which gave us a sufficient supply of 
water for our cattle. The animals had to be driven several 
hundred feet up on the side of a precipice, as the water was 
lost immediately on reaching the foot of the mountain. 
However we succeeded, and, to give our parched animals 
time to drink, we halted here for the day. The spot was 
remarkably wild and desolate. Here and there a steep 
cliff, upon which we placed our sentinels, rose isolated out 
of the grassy plain at the foot of the mountains. The 
valley in which we first sought for water had all the in- 
terest of which the wildernesses of this region are capable. 

A march of thirty-six miles over a barren and dusty 
plain brought us to Van Horn's Wells, where the cattle of 
a caravan which had preceded us had exhausted all the 
water ; we were therefore obliged to continue our journey 
without watering our animals. All around cattle left be- 
hind by preceding caravans lay dying with thirst. It was 
indeed a melancholy spectacle. Many of the poor beasts, 
still alive, had their eyes dried up and their tongues hang- 
ing out of their mouth : we shot several of them, in passing, 
out of mere compassion. 

We had still twenty-two miles to journey to the " Eagle 
Springs." The road led over a mountain ridge, where, 
between nearly horizontal limestone strata on one side and 
porphyritic masses on the other, a system of metamorphic 



Chap. III. EAGLE MOUNTAINS AND EAGLE SPRINGS. 467 

strata appears, consisting of micaceous slate, choritic slate, 
hornblende slate, and stratified serpentine, and covers the 
summit of the pass. In these strata are found masses 
of copper pyrites, malachite, and octahedric loadstone, 
and I believe a search for veins of ore might be well 
rewarded. 

At the point where the road descends to the lower plain, 
behind which the " Eagle Mountains" rise, the declivities 
of the hills are covered with a scattered forest of yucca- 
trees, which imparts a singular and interesting character to 
the landscape. The " Eagle Springs " lie not far from the 
road, at the foot of the mountains. A thin forest of very 
old yuccas grows around them, looking almost like a 
forest of palm-trees. I have nowhere seen larger or more 
numerous yucca-trees ; but this species is not remarkable 
for the size of its flower-stalks. At sunset, when the thick 
old stems and their radiating crowns were surrounded with 
a net of light, they formed a wonderful scene. A black 
pointed mountain stood out clearly among the foliage 
against the bright horizon. 

The " Eagle Springs " yield a sufficient quantity of water 
to satisfy the wants of several caravans, succeeding one 
another, even in the dry season ; but it is necessary always 
to husband carefully the supply of water. The locality is 
only a few miles distant from the Rio Grande, but the river 
appears to be inaccessible, the road running for thirty-three 
miles over a desert without water, until at length it reaches 
the shore of the river. Along this road we again passed 
hundreds of oxen perishing from thirst, which had been 
left behind by caravans and transports that had preceded 
us. Many died in sight of the river, which they were 
unable to reach ; and others in its waters, or in the quick- 
sands in its bed. 

2 h 2 



468 ARRIVAL AT THE SETTLEMENTS. Book III. 

On the road porphyry again succeeds the limestone of 
the Eagle Mountains. A narrow and winding defile, in 
which first limestone and then a species of porphyry and 
a slaty hornstone are seen, leads to the alluvial terrace of 
the valley, where an extensive formation of gypsum occurs. 
The defile is only three miles long, but the road through 
it is so difficult for large waggons with long teams, that it 
took us ten hours to pass through it. At about midway, 
by the road-side, is a rounded rock covered with Indian 
hieroglyphics. The gypsum in the valley appears as a 
loose earthy mass of red, yellow, white, and greenish 
colour, containing innumerable crystals of selenite in 
laminae, scales, and fibrous aggregates. The gypseous 
clay is destitute of vegetation, whilst the adjacent alluvial 
soil is covered with rich grass. Here, and in the defile, 
I frequently observed the chino-grass (Sacate chino) which 
is celebrated in Mexico, and is prized far more than the 
gramma-grass, and as much as oats : it grows only a few 
inches high. 

By the river we lost several mules, which drank so 
much water that they dropped, and could not rise again. 

We now found ourselves once more in the vicinity of 
human settlements, and despatched people to San Ygnacio, 
to purchase some waggon-loads of maize for our animals. 
Without this supply we should hardly have been able to 
reach El Paso, as they were so exhausted that almost 
hourly one or another of the animals dropped down before 
the waggon, and was with difficulty got on its legs again. 

On the 20th of March we encamped opposite to the 
above-mentioned Mexican village. The inhabitants came 
over the river to bring us poultry, eggs, and milk for 
sale. 

Our condition, as well as the surrounding country, 



Chap. III. EL PASO. 469 

began to assume a more cheerful aspect. The poplars by 
the water side were nearly in leaf. Crossing an arm of 
the river we reached the island, which contains three con- 
siderable villages, — San Eleazario, Socorro, and Ysleta. 
Peach and pear trees were here in bkssom. No one who 
has not spent months in travelling across an inhospitable 
wilderness can understand the feelings with which I beheld 
once more the indications of civilization and friendly inter- 
course. The island is in some measure protected from 
Indian attacks, and is in part well cultivated. A great 
part, however, consists of sandy tracts, which lie too high 
to admit of irrigation, and are overgrown with saline vege- 
tation and chaparral. 

With Mr. K., I drove on in advance of the caravan to 
El Paso, where we arrived March 23rd. 



470 CUSTOM-HOUSE REGULATIONS. Book III. 



CHAPTEE IV. 

New Custom-house Regulations on the Mexican Frontier — Continuation of the 
Journey to California — Mexican Passport System — Commencement of 
Spring Vegetation in the Sand -^- Crossing the Rio Grande — Yalley of 
Mesilla — Geological Features — A Murderer joins our Party — Smallpox 
effects a Life Insurance — Rio de los Mimbres — Ojo de Inez — Long 
March without Water — Dry Lagoon — Natural Wells — A beautiful Spring 
and Indian Beastliness — Guadalupe Pass — San Bernardino — Origin of 
the Rio Yaqui — Monument with Indian Hieroglyphics — Springs of the 
Rio de San Pedro — Apaches — Charming Valleys — Strata of Conglo- 
merate — Impassable Mountain Pass — Santa Cruz. 

The measures which the President Santa Ana had 
adopted since our last expedition had so injuriously affected 
the importation of merchandize across the Mexican frontier, 
that we could not think of passing our goods through the 
custom-house of El Paso. These measures, although they 
were terminated by the fall of Santa Ana, merit a brief 
explanation. 

The tariff of the Mexican Customs was in general so 
high, as to be almost a prohibition on all importation ; — 
but it was never enforced. The merchants who appeared 
on the frontier with their transports of goods, made 
their special bargains with the custom-house authorities, 
and never paid more than a half, often only a fourth or fifth, 
of the tariff' impost. This practice benefitted both the 
merchant and the custom-house officers, as well as the pur- 
chasers, and ultimately the public; but the exchequer 
was the loser, together with the high authorities. Santa 
Ana, in consequence, bent all his efforts to effect a 
reform, which afforded him an opportunity of keeping up 



Chap. IV. CUSTOM-HOUSE REGULATIONS. 471 

a show of morality and improved state economy. He 
reduced the duties, and, at the same time, threatened the 
officers of the customs with capital punishment should they 
connive in defrauding the public revenue by excusing any 
part of the custom-house dues. The result was singular: 
the tolls were considerably lowered, and yet the merchants 
declared that, under these circumstances, they were unable 
to import their goods. For example, under this reduced 
tariff, we should have had to pay seventy to eighty 
thousand dollars nett, whereas, under the old tariff, we 
should have passed our merchandize for fifteen or twenty 
thousand. 

The Dictator of Mexico, occupied with extensive 
schemes, whose insatiable avarice is explained by his inten- 
tion of amassing the means of founding a Mexican empire, 
left one door open by which the country could be supplied 
with cheap goods: he held out the inducement of a reduc- 
tion of the imposts to all those merchants who should come 
voluntarily to the capital, and state their business per- 
sonally to the President. By this measure he effected at 
the same time several objects : he diverted the bribes — 
which these merchants had been accustomed to pay — into 
his own pocket, and restricted the Mexican import trade to 
large undertakings, which made it worth their while to 
obtain a hearing from him, even at a considerable cost. 
At the same time he promoted the maritime commerce, 
which is chiefly European, at the expense of the inland 
trade, which is principally carried on with the United 
States. Thus, whilst the imposts were almost prohibitory 
for the land-transport, the interior of Mexico was inun- 
dated with cheap European goods from the seaports. 
Under these circumstances, no course remained to my 
friends but to leave the goods with which our waggons were 



472 STAY AT EL PASO. Book III. 

loaded, on the Texan side of the Rio Grande, and to 
await some change in the affairs of Mexico — in short the 
fall of Santa Ana. Several merchants from the United 
States, who had arrived there before us, were similarly 
situated. In the few buildings at Franklin and Macgoffin- 
ville, there were probably lying merchandize to the value 
of about half a million dollars, destined for Chihuahua, 
which could not be imported. 

The reader may imagine the unpleasantness of a mer- 
chant's position, who, after having embarked his capital in 
an enterprise, finds it suddenly locked up in this manner. 
My friends viewed the matter coolly, and then took a 
sudden resolution : the goods were left at Franklin, under 
the care of Mr. M. whilst Mr. K. undertook to proceed 
with the mules and empty waggons to California, where 
good prices for them might be expected to realize the 
capital embarked ; this was estimated at about 40,000 
dollars. For my own part, the misfortune of my friends 
facilitated the accomplishment of my wish, of travelling 
across the rest of the continent ; and I did not hesitate a 
moment to accompany Mr. K. to California. 

Before, however, inviting my readers to accompany me 
across the steppes of Northern Sonora, the deserts of the 
Gila and Colorado, and the mountain passes of Los 
Angeles, to the shores of the Pacific, I must make a few 
observations relative to my stay at El Paso, from March 
23rd to June 4th. 

Our object in making this long stay was twofold : first, 
our animals had arrived so exhausted, that they needed a 
long rest before they were able to undergo fresh toil and 
privations ; we had, likewise, to await the commencement 
of the summer rains in the steppes west of the Rio Grande, 
and the ripening of the mezquite pods in the deserts of the 



Chap. IV. MEXICAN PASSPORT SYSTEM. 473 

Gila and Colorado, where this fruit, for hundreds of miles, 
is the only food for the cattle. I could almost have made 
a journey to Chihuahua in this time ; and indeed I did set 
out, but only accomplished half the distance. The person 
there with whom I had business met me accidentally half 
way. I had at the same time an opportunity of learning 
by experience the Mexican passport system, much improved 
by Santa Ana, which has since been quite changed; at 
that time it was unique in the New World. Pleasant 
recollections of long-forgotten advantages of European life 
were awakened in my mind. I was obliged to appear at 
the "Jefatura," where my description was taken down, 
and my weapons and those of my servants were entered. 
A guarantee had also to be given. But when all this was 
done, the passport was not ready, and I was told to come 
again in two hours. " Es muchisimo trabajo !" (It is a 
great labour), said the Jefe Politico, or Prefect of El Paso, 
as he eyed his slowly -writing secretary. Dona Concha, the 
wife of one of my companions, who was attached to the 
" conducta " going to Chihuahua, was excepted from these 
police regulations. " De las Senoras no dice nada la ley" 
(the law says nothing about the ladies), said the " Jefe 
Politico," with Spanish gallantry. 

If the United States have outdone the English system 
of governing as little as possible, Mexico has surpassed the 
system of the European continental states of governing 
as much as possible. Both American neighbour republics 
go to the extreme ; but with this difference, that the United 
States owe their greatness to their " governing too little," 
whilst Mexico and other Spanish American republics owe in 
part their decline to the system of " governing too much." 

About the time of our arrival at the Bio Grande, two 
scientific expeditions passed through this part of the 






474 CROSSING THE RIO GRANDE. Book III. 

country, both commissioned to discover an advantageous 
line for a railroad to the Pacific. One, under the com- 
mand of Lieutenant Park, sent by the Government of 
Washington, had begun their works at San Diego, on the 
coast of California ; and had progressed eastwards as far as 
the Rio Grande. The other expedition, under Colonel 
Gray, was in the service of a company of New York, and 
penetrated from El Paso westward. Not long before our 
arrival at Franklin this latter expedition had made a vain 
attempt to reach the little-known Laguna de Guzman, the 
upper end of which, as was afterwards discovered by a 
second more successful expedition, lies sixty-two miles south, 
50° west from El Paso, in the steppe. The first attempt 
nearly met with an unfortunate termination : the party 
wandered about in the steppe, unable to find the lake, and 
want of water forced them to return to the Rio Grande, 
leaving behind a waggon, and all the baggage in it. Several 
persons had gone mad from thirst, but they soon recovered. 
The day after our arrival, I saw these courageous men 
start afresh ; and a fortnight later a messenger brought to the 
United States Consul at El Paso the tidings that the expe- 
dition had found the lake. In this corps was a young 
German, Mr. Schuchart, from Hesse- Cassel, whom I 
afterwards met again in the south of California, where he 
had joined an expedition to explore and work some silver, 
gold, and copper mines on the river Gila, — a task still 
more dangerous than that of Colonel Gray. 

Before leaving the Rio Grande, I may remark that this 
year the poplars were in leaf at the end of March and the 
beginning of April ; that in the second week of April the 
algarobbiae were green ; and that in the third week the 
various species of acacia came into leaf, which form part 
of the underwood on the sandy banks of the river. The 



Chap. IV. VALLEY OF MESILLA. 475 

different species of cactus had flowered from the beginning 
of the month. 

I must not pass unnoticed a phenomenon I observed 
here repeatedly, which will interest those who study the 
physiology of plants. It had not rained for many months ; 
the loose sand was dry, and was daily heated by the sun ; 
in spite of which I observed seeds germinating in this 
very sand. This phenomenon is connected with the 
general question, by what natural means vegetation is 
maintained in a country without water, with an exceed- 
ingly dry atmosphere, and with a periodical absence of all 
rain for six months. 

Early in June we started for California, following, with 
a few slight deviations, the road through the basin of the 
Gila, known by the name of Cook's Route. At Fort 
Fillmore our waggons were conveyed across the river on a 
flat boat. The mules were obliged to swim over, which 
was not easily effected, and many of them were carried 
down the stream ; others returned back to the shore when 
half way across, and others still stuck fast in a quicksand. 
We thought ourselves fortunate that the whole drove was 
brought over without loss. A German, who had joined 
our caravan on this occasion, sank up to his waist in a 
quicksand, and had to be pulled out with cords. I have 
said above that these sandbanks render the Eio Grande 
exceedingly dangerous. 

On the other side of the river we found ourselves in the 
valley of Mesilla. The political interest connected with it 
has been mentioned in a former chapter. This village has 
great advantages of soil, being fertile and easily irrigated. 
The beautiful appearance of large tracts of the valley de- 
ceived and disappointed us, looking as if covered with rich 
grass, which proved to be only a plant of the family of 



476 A MURDERER JOINS OUR PARTY. Book III. 

Composites, with green, pointed, leafless stalks, and small 
white flowers ; it grows luxuriantly over many square 
miles, but quite unfit for fodder. 

To the west, this green bottom-land is bordered by a 
lateral terrace with a steep declivity, which, forming a 
kind of plateau, has given its name to the place. Mesilla 
is the diminutive of Mesa, or table — a word by which the 
Mexicans designate a plateau. On the 12th we began to 
ascend to this terrace : the road presenting interesting geo- 
logical features, disclosed in a rocky fissure near the road. 
Masses of porphyry lie here, over nearly horizontal 
strata of limestone, containing fossil shells, and which 
have been much changed by the influence of heat iri 
contact with the plutonic or volcanic rock. Higher up 
the road led us through the deep ravines of an exten- 
sive and interesting formation of gypsum, where the 
inhabitants of New Mexico fetch isinglass for window- 
panes. 

Viewed from this height, the valley of Mesilla, with its 
green bottom, the river seen here and there through a 
thick grove of poplars, and the opposite range of the 
Sierra de los Organos, presents an aspect of truly imposing 
grandeur. 

We passed the night on this elevation, and our animals 
were driven back into the valley for grass and water. 
Whilst encamped here, a North American — Mr. W., 
from Virginia — joined us. He had been living in New 
Mexico, where he had committed a murder, and, to escape 
the consequences of this deed, he begged permission to 
travel with us to California. Such company cannot be 
avoided in these countries. I have observed this man for 
months during the journey, and found him to be very good- 
natured and to have many good qualities ; but he could 



Chap. IV. THE SMALL-POX. 477 

not resist drinking spirits, and when drunk he was like a 
wild beast. During the journey he had no opportunity of 
yielding to this weakness, as we resolutely refused to let 
him have a drop of the dangerous fluid. As soon, how- 
ever, as we reached the first Californian settlement, he 
freed himself from this control. Having got drunk, he 
insisted on my drinking with him ; and on my refusal he 
flew into such a rage, that I thought myself fortunate to 
escape without serious injury. People of this kind are 
met with very frequently in North America ; and this, 
amongst other things, should be taken into consideration, 
in giving just credit to the efforts of the Temperance 
party. 

Mr. W v who had lived in Santa Barbara, had often 
come in contact with the Copper-mine Apaches, who at 
that time lived on a good understanding with the North 
Americans, and were frequently seen in the settlements. 
He brought us the unpleasant tidings that a misunder- 
standing had recently broken out between them and the 
whites. A son of the old chief, who went by the name 
of Ponce, had been ill with small-pox, and the commander 
of the neighbouring fort, it was said, would not allow 
the army surgeon to visit the patient, who afterwards died. 
The old man hereupon removed with his tribe, threatening 
that in future travellers should not find him so friendly as 
hitherto ; and, in fact, a few days after, we became aware 
that this threat was made in earnest. In our party were 
some North Americans, with their Mexican wives, who 
were in the habit of journeying in advance of our caravan, 
partly in a travelling-carriage and partly on horseback. 
When we approached within a few miles of Cook's Spring 
a Mexican servant of these people suddenly returned in 
the greatest haste, telling us that his master and mistress 



478 OLD PONCE. Book III. 

had suddenly been surprised by a band of Apaches at the 
watering-place, and were murdered. Accompanied by 
Messrs. W. and C, I hastened to the spot as fast as 
our horses could carry us ; but before we reached the place 
these people came to meet us : an accident had saved 
them. One of the travellers was suffering from small-pox, 
and his face was greatly disfigured. When the Indians sur- 
rounded the carriage, and looked into it in search of booty, 
they saw this patient ; and such terror seized them, that 
the whole band immediately ran off. Their leader was a 
Mexican renegade of ill repute, called Delgadito, from 
whom these travellers might have expected the worst 
treatment. 

On this occasion I heard several anecdotes characteristic 
of old Ponce. He had taken prisoner a man from Mesilla, 
and the savages made all the preparations to burn him alive. 
Everything was ready for the ceremony, and the men of the 
tribe were busy getting drunk, to heighten their enjoyment 
of the scene ; when, at nightfall, one of the wives of the 
chief came to the prisoner, cut his cords, and aided him to 
escape. Ponce loves spirits above everything. When his 
son died of small-pox, he sold his finest mule to procure a 
large quantity of whisky, observing that his heart was 
heavy, and he must lighten it. To his younger son he 
made a present on this occasion of a whole cask-full : 
"The boy," he said, "takes his brother's death so much 
to heart, that I must cheer him up." 

The water at Cook's Spring is of a good taste, clear, 
and cool ; but the spring lies in a black peaty soil, and the 
footsteps of any animals speedily transform the water into 
mud. This is a difficulty that often happens at the 
watering-places. The next spring we came to, Ojo de 
Vaca, was of the same kind. 



Chap. IV. RIO DE LOS MIMBEES. 479 

If the Sierra de los Mimbres, a chain of mountains said 
to connect the Kocky Mountains and the great Sierra 
Madre, really existed anywhere except on maps and in 
geographies, our road must have led over it. Between 
Cook's Spring and the Rio de los Mimbres we twice 
crossed some heights, but these belonged only to the lower 
spurs or advanced groups of mountains more north ; and 
the road might have passed round them further south over 
a plain, if its course had not to be determined by the 
watering-places. In these spurs are found the sources of 
the Rio de los Mimbres, a small and beautiful river of the 
steppe, flowing through a wide plain southward, and reach- 
ing, in the wet season, the Laguna de Santa Maria. This 
prairie-lake is not separated by any mountain from the 
Rio Grande. During the dry season the river dries up in 
the steppe. At the part where we crossed, it was sur- 
rounded by green meadows, and bordered by a thick 
underwood of Mimbre (Chilopsis) ; it looked one of the 
pleasantest spots I have seen on our long journey. In the 
neighbourhood game is abundant. 

We found, on our way through this part of the country, 
in several places, limestone and sandstone ; the latter over- 
lying the former, and both bordering on porphyry and 
trachyte. Sometimes the sandstone formed crenelated 
walls. But, on the whole, the landscape was an undu- 
lating steppe, overgrown with grass, bordered, here and 
there, with isolated mountains and mountain-groups. On 
the other side of the Ojo de Vaca, where the road leads 
over the advanced spurs of a group of mountains which 
we left to the north, and the highest peak of which the 
North- Americans call Ben Moore, a spring is said to 
rise in the hollow of a rock, which owes its name — Ojo 
de Inez — to a romantic event, the deliverance of a 



480 



LONG MARCH 



Book III. 



Mexican girl, carried off by the Apaches, by the North- 
American boundary commissioner. 1 

I was tempted to penetrate several miles alone into the 
mountains, whilst our caravan was passing the mouth of 
this hollow. My adventurous ride, on a beaten Indian trail, 
trusting to the swiftness of my horse and my excellent arms, 
led me into a mountain-scene of great interest and beauty, 
shut out from the world. The rocks, consisting of a bluish, 
yellowish, and greenish grey pearl-stone, presented twisted 
and elongated stripes, similar to half-melted glass. Here 
and there I started a herd of stags, but did not venture to 
fire, for fear of betraying my presence to the Indians in 
the vicinity. 

In this part of the country the road makes a bend 
due south, and crossing the most north-eastern spur of the 
Great Sierra Madre, in the Guadalupe Pass, famous for its 
difficulty, it leads through Santa Cruz, San Xavier del Bac, 
Tubac, and Tucson, the three latter places of which have 
since then been incorporated in the territory of the United 
States, with the so-called " Gadsden Purchase." But a 
man of the name of Leroux had tried successfully a 
much shorter line, which, cutting off the whole bend, leads 
straight to Tucson, and which since has come into use 
under the name of Leroux's Boute. It had been our in- 
tention to take this shorter road, on which as yet, however, 
there were no waggon- tracks. At El Paso we made the 
acquaintance of a man with a large drove of cattle, on his 
way to California, and who had obtained all the neces- 
sary particulars relating to the route. This man (and I 
mention the circumstance as characteristic of the state of 



1 The account of Inez Gonzales, 
which is only one of a thousand similar 
stories that happen in the north of 



Mexico, may be seen in Bartlett's ' Per- 
sonal Narrative,' in Chapters xiii., xvu., 
and xviii. of Vol. II. 



Chap. IV. WITHOUT WATER, 481 

things in America) was a physician, a man of education, 
who had studied at Paris, possessed a considerable fortune, 
but was not deterred from spending part of it in purchas- 
ing cattle in Texas, and speculating in this article ; he was 
obliged therefore, to make the journey himself, and, like a 
patriarch of old, to travel with his herds over this portion 
of the globe. We depended on his knowledge of the 
road, and, as he had preceded us a few days, we intended 
to follow in his tracks. 

On regaining the plain we observed that the traces of 
some waggons, and the footsteps of cattle, in our line of 
march, suddenly deviated on oue side, and disappeared in 
the grass of the prairie. I was convinced that this was 
the spot where Dr. E. had quitted the beaten road, and 
proceeded direct west ; and perhaps my opinion would 
have been adopted by the commander of our caravan, had 
not a musket, found lying in the road, and the devious 
course of the waggon-tracks in the grass, countenanced the 
other supposition, that the Doctor might have met with 
an accident, and the deviation from the road at this 
spot have been a compulsory one. In this uncertainty, 
I undertook, accompanied by Mr. C, to reconnoitre the 
prairie, and see whether we might not, further on, find 
clearer traces of the Doctor's waggons and animals. We 
rode unsuccessfully for several miles over a grassy plain, 
intersected by small rocky hollows, until the sun, near 
setting, reminded us that it was time to turn back, and 
hasten to rejoin our caravan. The latter had meanwhile 
continued in a direct southerly course, and I had no doubt 
it had already passed the point where the new route was 
said to diverge ; and this was really the case. We con- 
tinued our journey on the old road, and did not reach the 
point where the former rejoins the latter until after four 

2 i 



482 LONG MARCH WITHOUT WATER, Book III. 

weeks. Here, at San Xavier del Bac, we met Doctor 
E. with his heads of cattle, who had arrived there a 
fortnight before us. Our having missed the shorter way, 
caused us a loss of some weeks, and a cost of at least a 
thousand dollars. 

This disagreeable fact, however, was not credited by all 
our party for many days. The first inconvenience was 
that we hunted in vain to discover on the old road the 
watering-places of the new one, of which we had a list. I 
was not deceived about it, but I could not make the others 
adopt my view. 

The very first night we were obliged to pass without 
water, after our long journey from Ojo de Yaca. Our 
animals were very thirsty at starting in the morning, with a 
prospect of travelling thirty-five miles without meeting with 
any water. In the evening of this day both men and 
beasts were utterly exhausted, and a general depression 
seized the whole caravan. On a sudden a smooth and 
bright surface appeared at a distance in the prairie, which 
our people took to be a lake. A general joy burst forth at 
this sight ; which, however, I did not share, well knowing 
where the next watering-place would be. My objections 
were not listened to, and those of our party on horseback 
hastened towards the supposed lake. The refraction of the 
light increased the apparent surface of the water, and 
it had quite the appearance of a large lake filled with 
yellowish water, and with small green islands from which 
rose the tops of single yucca-trees. Meanwhile the cara- 
van was gradually approaching, and saw themselves at last 
on the edge of a level and dry plain, on the opposite 
side of which rose* a chain of high mountains. It was 
at the foot of these that we had to look for our next 
watering-place. The dry lake is laid down on the map as 



Chap. IV. THE FATA MORGANA. 483 

the "Dry Lagoon;" the Spanish name is "Las Playas." 
There are, however, in this part of the country, two similar 
localities. We found the bed covered with a smooth layer 
of gypsum, which is dissolved by a periodical overflow : it 
solidifies again, after the drying up of the waters, and 
crystalizes in parts. The road passes over this. The gyp- 
sum was so hard that the wheels made little impression, 
and in many places the surface shone like a mirror. I 
cannot tell whether this space is annually covered with 
water, or only at longer intervals and under unusual cir- 
cumstances — I suspect the latter is the case : at all events 
the bed never fills above a few inches with water, as the 
vegetation on the banks and on the small islands shows 
clearly. 

It was high time that we reached some water on the 
other side. The store in our casks was quite exhausted. In 
a hot atmosphere, our animals had not tasted drink for 
the last forty-eight hours, while the men too were tormented 
with thirst. For the first time I felt the tantalizing effect 
of the Fata Morgana, which led us to imagine the presence 
of water. I had read much of this phenomenon, and had, 
during my travels, seen it a hundred times, but never 
when suffering from extreme drought. This country ex- 
hibits many enigmatical phenomena. On the other side 
of the Dry Lagoon, we came to a luxuriant grassy plain, 
with a large number of deep round holes, filled with water 
as clear as crystal. The level of the water is considerably 
higher than the Dry Lagoon, and yet no brook flows in the 
direction of it. The water-holes are in parts so large and 
deep, that some mules, which tried to drink on the edge, 
and fell in, disappeared for a time under water ; on coming 
to the surface again, we were obliged to drag them out with 
cords. At the edge is a perpendicular slope of turf, which 

2 i 2 



484 NATURAL WELLS. Book III. 

goes down to the lowest depth. The watering-place is 
known by the name of " Natural Wells." The view, in 
looking back, extends over one of the most peculiar and 
grand landscapes I have ever seen ; to which the varied 
forms of the opposite mountains contribute, as well as the 
palm-like trees of a species of yucca, of peculiarly pleasing 
shape, standing in rows along the edge of the barren plain. 

Our road now led over a mountain, on the western side 
of which we found a spring, by the side of a torrent, 
which periodically gushes out of a rocky defile. Its 
bed was now dry. The plains extending before us were 
overgrown with grass, in which were single large agaves, 
with gigantic flower-stalks, — the latter just in that state of 
development when the stalk is filled with a sweet sap, 
affording a welcome refreshment. Along the dry bed of 
the brook grow plantains, which appeared to me to be a 
different species to the North American sycamore {Plata- 
nus occidentalis), as well as to the plantain of the Old 
World. This species, which has drooping branches, a 
deeply serrated leaf, and a bright green colour of the bark, 
is found in the mountainous defiles of North America, and 
usually on the edge of beds of intermitting torrents, filled 
with detached masses of rock, as far as California. By 
Mexicans it is called Aliso. 

In the evening a thunderstorm came on, which lasted 
the whole night. Our animals, which were at the same 
time watered and washed by it, appeared the next morning 
greatly refreshed. As we proceeded, columns of smoke 
arose in different places in the neighbouring mountains ; 
and during the next night we saw fires very near our camp. 
In consequence of this suspicious circumstance, one half of 
our men had to mount guard over our animals in the 
pasture. 



Chap. IV. INDIAN BEASTLINESS. 485 

We next came to a group of natural wells, similar 
to those described above, in a wide basin covered with 
grass, and surrounded by barren mountains. The whole 
landscape was in fact treeless. A great number of 
large and deep holes in the turf were filled with a milk- 
white water, but of a good taste. Our mules, falling one 
after another into these holes, gave us great trouble ; and 
before we proceeded, all the wells had to be examined, to 
make sure that we had not left any mule behind. Concealed 
below the edge of one of these holes, a beast of prey, 
probably a panther, had its lair. Scattered about lay the 
remains of a number of stags and antelopes, which had been 
killed when coming here to drink. The place looked like 
a slaughter-house ; and a quantity of antelope's hair was 
mixed with the water. Half a day's journey brought us to 
a spring, which forms a charming brook running through 
the meadows. Not far from this we saw a group of de- 
serted Indian huts, whose inhabitants had evidently de- 
camped at our approach. Probably from revengeful 
feelings at this disturbance, or to express their hatred 
to us, they had soiled the spring with their excrements. 
In the night we saw fires near our camp, and again kept 
up a careful watch. Whilst in advance of our caravan, the 
next day, I saw in the dust along the road the prints of a 
small female foot, with light shoes, amidst the footsteps of 
a band of Indians ; these savages had doubtless carried off 
some female captive. 

We had now the dreaded Guadalupe Pass before us. 
The road ascends gradually for the last five miles, until 
we suddenly find ourselves on the edge of deep preci- 
pices. Higher mountains rise in the vicinity, but the road 
leads nowhere over a ridge- From the edge of the plateau 
we looked down into a chaos of defiles, rocks and ridges, 



486 WILD SCENEEY. Book III. 

overgrown with juniper-bushes, dwarf oaks, yuccas, dasy- 
liriums, cacti, and agaves. To the inexperienced man it 
is incomprehensible how large baggage-waggons can be 
brought down. This operation was attended with such diffi- 
culties, that it took two entire days to proceed a few miles. 
Every waggon was obliged to have two wheels locked, and 
to be kept up with cords, whilst several drivers had to lead 
each couple of every team through the underwood and 
blocks of stone lying about. We had to drive the herd 
back from the place where we spent the night to the 
spring we had last passed ; and it was taken at night to 
pasture on the mountain-sides, along which I had to grope 
my way on hands and feet, gun in hand, while on guard. 
From these heights the road sunk into a labyrinth of de- 
files, in which it w T as difficult to trace any connexion. 
Huge masses of debris — from which rise mighty blocks 
and towers of solid rock — showed different colours, like 
masses of clay which, containing various oxides, had been 
exposed to fire ; had the road passed through the large 
open crater of a volcano the scene could not have been 
more wild and chaotic. 

At length we came to a more regularly formed valley, 
which led out of the mountains into open country. Along 
the road we saw horizontal layers of limestone resting on the 
eruptive masses of the mountains, and therefore, of course, 
more recent than the latter. In a narrow cleft amongst 
the limestone strata copious springs gush forth_, forming 
a beautiful clear brook, and, following its rapid course, we 
came at last to a large circular plain, surrounded on all 
sides by hills and distant mountains, and covered with 
green meadows, with numerous springs and watercourses 
overgrown with reeds. Here, upon a dry acclivity, on 
which grows the brushwood, common to the hills of de'bris 



Chap. IV. GUADALUPE PASS. 487 

ill this country, stand the ruins of extensive buildings. 
These, together with a large tract of land, which is amongst 
the most valuable in Northern Sonora, form the deserted 
Hacienda of San Bernardino. 

These springs, with others in the neighbourhood, are the 
sources of the Rio Yaqui, the principal river in Sonora, 
and the largest that empties into the Californian Gulf. In 
crossing the Guadalupe Pass we had left the table-lands 
that descend toward the Rio Grande, and had reached that 
declivity of the continent which inclines towards the Pacific. 
Perhaps the reader may remember that my excursion 
from Chihuahua to the Sierra Madre brought me to the 
sources of the Rio de Papigochic, which also empties into 
the Yaqui. Thus I had visited the two chief branches of 
the river. 

After travelling two days further, we came to the sources 
of the Rio de San Pedro, a tributary of the Gila. Leaving 
the plain of San Bernardino, we drove up an acclivity, the 
first hills of which consisted of basalt. Higher up we 
found limestone, and further on porphyry, spreading out 
in a large mass of mountains. Here we spent the night 
without water. The next day we came to a plain, where 
we searched in vain for water ; nor could we possibly find 
the watering-places stated to be further westward. A 
thunderstorm, however, accompanied by torrents of rain, 
deluged the country, and gave us an abundant supply. 

Continuing our route to the Rio San Pedro, we had to 
journey round the broad base of a lofty mountain, with a 
pyramidal peak. We left it on our right. All around 
rose other high mountains, separated from one another by 
large plateaus. In this neighbourhood I saw close to our 
road a stone covered with Indian hieroglyphics : this was 
undoubtedly brought hither intentionally and for a .special 



488 



MONUMENT WITH INDIAN HIEROGLYPHICS. Book III. 



purpose, as some memorial or boundary-stone. I saw no 
similar one near. 




In this district there are seen many wild horses, of which 
I could only catch a sight from a great distance. Wild 
cattle also are frequently met with. 

From these heights we descended into a valley contain- 
ing copious springs. A small stream runs from each, and 
these all unite like veins, forming together the commence- 
ment of the Rio de San Pedro. On the banks of this river, 
— still a small rivulet — I saw for the first time wild clover, 
which further on, and especially in California, becomes so 
prominent in the natural pastures of the country. One 
branch of the road follows the river, which receives water 
from all sides, and soon becomes a considerable stream. 
We crossed its upper part, and then directed our course 
again toward the heights. Viewed from above, this 
territory presents a grand and remarkable landscape ; 
great mountains, with oak woods at their base and pines 



Chap. J V. CHARMING VALLEYS — APACHES. 489 

on their summits, surround a large plain, now horizontal, 
now sloping gently, or precipitously, in long straight lines. 

In flat trough -like basins of this tract rise the numerous 
springs which may be traced for many miles by the green 
colour of the grass, the reeds and rushes. Altogether this 
district occupies at least a hundred English square miles, 
but by means of artesian wells, which promise here quite 
as certain a success as in the valley of San Jose in Cali- 
fornia, it may be extended to three or four times its size ; 
and at the same time the mass of water in the river may 
be tripled or quadrupled. According to the provisions of 
the Gadsden Treaty, the frontier between Mexico and the 
United States passes through the upper part of the valley 
in which the sources lie ; numerous settlements will soon be 
formed on both sides of the frontier. The neighbouring 
mountains, as in nearly all this part of the country, are rich 
in minerals, especially copper-ore ; and, as wood and water- 
power are sufficiently abundant, advantageous prospects are 
opening on this privileged country. The valley of the 
river further down excites the admiration of all who have 
seen it. In short everything combines to attract hither, ere 
long, a numerous and active population. 

In passing through the valley, we saw at the distance of 
about a mile and a half, on a height, two Indians, who 
approached us slowly. When within about half a mile, 
they hoisted a white flag : we did the same. They came 
nearer : one of our party rode on to meet them, and a con- 
versation commenced. Gradually twenty to thirty persons 
joined the group ; they were Apaches, whose physiognomy 
differed much from that of others of the same tribe I had 
seen before, whilst it at the same time exhibited a marked 
character, and- a great uniformity of the national type. 
Here was no trace of those flat mongrel forms which I 



490 APACHES. Book III. 

have observed in the Texan Apaches and Lipans : the 
profile of their faces was more Grecian ; the brow, nose, 
eyes, and mouth were well formed, and the Indian was 
seen only in the high cheek-bones, and the sinister expres- 
sion of the features. They wore a hat of leather and 
scarlet cloth, shaped like a helmet, ornamented with 
feathers and, round the crown, with a piece of yellow cloth 
cut in points like a coronet. The plumes, of an antique 
shape, consisted of the tail-feathers of the wild turkey, and 
at the side hung the feathered skins of various little birds 
of bright plumage. A leather strap fastened this head- 
dress under the chin, and the whole presented an extremely 
warlike appearance both in man and boy. From some 
drawings I have seen, this costume is found among the 
Navajos, in New Mexico. 

These Apaches had with them some stolen Mexican 
boys, one of whom they offered us for sale. We should 
have gladly purchased the boy's freedom, but could not 
agree about the bargain, as the Apaches demanded powder 
and shot, which they might afterwards have used against 
ourselves. To decline this demand in the least offensive 
way, I told the chieftain that we had no great store of 
those articles. But Mr. K. interrupted me, exclaim- 
ing in a violent tone, " We have plenty of powder and 
shot, not for, but against the Apaches !" Hereupon the 
chieftain, without noticing anything that had passed, de- 
clared that he would fetch the prisoner, in the hope of 
making some other bargain ; but, as soon as he returned 
to his people, the whole troop rode hastily off. We after- 
wards heard that this chief was a man well known by 
the name of Miguel, one of the greatest savages among 
the whole tribe of the Apaches. 

Among these people was an old man who spoke Spanish 



Chap. IV. LAYERS OF CONGLOMERATE. 491 

tolerably well, and had a certain dignified demeanour. On 
my expressing, in conversation with him, a certain mistrust 
of his assurances of friendship, he raised his hands and eyes 
towards the sun, and said, " Do you not believe that God — 
this Sun — {que Dios, este sol) — sees what we do, and 
punishes us when it is evil." The expression interested me 
much ; and yet I should not willingly have trusted my 
life to the sanctity of the oath. This troop was known 
in the villages of Sonora by the name of the Biscainos, 
which means, " from the State of Chihuahua," as this 
latter was formerly known by the name of New Biscay. 

The continuation of the journey led us through a 
charming little valley, with rocks on each side, and with a 
clear rivulet running through it. Shady oaks grew at the 
foot of the rocks, and a few old poplars on the edge of the 
brook. The higher mountains in the background consist 
of porphyry, rising in pointed forms. But between these 
eruptive formations, strata of a coarse conglomerate are 
found in the valley, in their original horizontal position, 
and apparently belonging to the causes of the great number 
and peculiar arrangement of springs in this region. This 
formation appears to be very extensive, spreading far into 
Sonora ; but only filling up valleys between eruptive masses, 
and perhaps itself an accessory product of the eruption, 
especially of the granite found here likewise. 

The main road, from which we nowhere saw any other 
route branch off, led us straight toward a steep mountain, 
and into a defile full of clefts, which reminded us of the 
Guadalupe Pass. The ground was covered with oak- 
wood. The road became more and more difficult, and at 
last impassable ; nothing remained but to return to the 
plain. 

We were not far from Santa Cruz, the first inhabited 



492 SANTA CRUZ. Book ill. 

place since leaving the valley of the Rio Grande. The 
North American travellers who accompanied us had pre- 
ceded us to this little town, following the road to the moun- 
tains. They had succeeded in penetrating through them, 
and reaching Santa Cruz, and had had the good sense 
to send to meet us a native, to whom the road was 
known. This man conducted us round the mountain, and 
we came into a beautiful valley, shaded by splendid ash- 
trees, walnuts, poplars and plantains. Behind the grassy 
hills in the vicinity, with here and there a few oaks, arose 
lofty and steep mountains, their summits crowned with 
pine forests. The whole country looked cleared and 
orderly as if it had been cultivated for a century. But 
a heap of the remains of burned waggons reminded us 
that we were still in a wilderness, where the Apaches still 
practise their ill deeds with impunity. We spent the night 
in this fine valley ; and, as our people shot two wild oxen, 
there was plenty both for man and beast. Crossing some 
flat grassy heights, with groups of gigantic agaves, we 
arrived the next day in the valley of Santa Cruz, one of 
the most beautiful parts of northern Sonora. 



Chap. V. SANTA CRUZ. 493 



CHAPTER V. 

River and Valley of Santa Crnz — Landscape Scenery — Hacienda de la Cala- 
basa and its German Inhabitants — Fights with the Apaches — The old 
Mission of Tumacacori — Travelling Companions — Sagnarro, or the Giant 
Cactns — San Xavier del Bac — Old Acquaintances — Christian Pimas — 
European Adventurers in the Service of a Sonora private Gentleman — 
Tubac — Tucson — A Desert of Dust and Clay — Isolated Pyramid of Rock 
— Scenes in the Desert — Gila Lagoon — Heathen Pimas — The Mezquite 
Bean — Idyllic Scenes, and Character of the Pimas. 

The valley of Santa Cruz, a few miles below the town, 
makes a great bend ; and the small stream through it, 
which in the upper part runs south, takes in the lower part 
a north-west and north course. To judge from this direc- 
tion, it appears inclined to unite with the Gila ; but, before 
reaching this river, it is lost in the desert a few miles below 
Tucson. 

The town of Santa Cruz, a small dilapidated place, with 
a population who cultivate their cornfields at the risk of 
their lives, lies in this valley, just at the western foot of 
that wild and rugged mountain which obliged us to retrace 
our steps. It is said to be the highest inhabited place in 
Sonora : at all events it belongs to the " tierra fria " (the 
cold region) of Mexican climatology. Snow falls here in 
winter : the summer rains come on at the end of June or 
the middle of July, and with them begins the second growth 
of vegetation, and the summer grass-crop, unless where 
springs or an artificial irrigation renders the soil able to 
dispense with rain. In October there is frost again. The 
climate is, to a northerner, unquestionably one of the most 
beautiful, as it is one of the healthiest in the world ; and is 



494 SANTA CTUJZ. Book III. 

peculiarly adapted for the cultivation of wheat and differ- 
ent kinds of fruit. All the numerous and deserted estates 
in this country have still their orchards (although in a wild 
state), in which apples, pears, peaches, apricots, and further 
into the country also grapes, figs, and pomegranates, grow 
wild. Nothing but security is wanting to make this valley 
the abode of a thriving population : dread of the Apaches 
prevents the timid inhabitants of this country enjoying the 
advantages which nature offers. In the large bend of the 
valley lie some large buildings of a hacienda, which, like 
so many others in these parts, has been .abandoned on the 
same account. Only a few days ago the savages had stolen 
several horses close to the town of Santa Cruz, and a divi- 
sion of Mexican cavalry from Tucson made their appearance 
during our stay at the former place, in pursuit of the rob- 
bers. Since then the country may have become more 
secure ; for, although Santa Cruz, in the new frontier 
regulation, has remained on the Mexican side, yet the 
establishment of a United States fort, at San Xavier del Bac, 
has no doubt exercised a salutary influence over the whole 
neighbourhood. The frontier line now runs past Santa 
Cruz, at a small distance on the north, and cuts through 
the valley in two places ; now in the southern, and again 
in the northern course of the river. The upper and lower 
parts of the valley, belonging to the United States, are 
thus separated inconveniently by an intervening tract of 
Mexican territory. 

The valley at its head, where only flat heights surround 
it, is treeless, and loses itself in the adjacent steppes of the 
table-land ; but at Santa Cruz, and further down, the banks 
of the river, and the valley itself, are covered with poplars 
and willows, ash-trees and plantains, oaks and walnut- 
trees. On the lower part of the mountain declivities, 



Chap. V. HACIENDA DE LA CALABASA. 495 

which are mostly clothed with turf, oaks grow scattered ; 
whilst the higher mountains, rising in peaks of grotesque 
alpine forms, are clothed with pine forests. Some portions 
of this valley are of such grand, rich, and simple beauty, 
as for instance Tumacacori and San Xavier del Bac, that 
they would be remarkable in any part of the world. In 
some parts the green turf was enlivened by the yellow 
Mimulus : in other parts, remarkable Cucurbitacew, with 
deeply serrated leaves, run in long tendrils over the hard 
soil ; and, as if reared by the gardener according to the 
rules of his art, rise the circular masses of a magnificent 
Convolvulacea with shining leaves, and large crimson 
flowers. A plant, not unlike a Martynia, with orange 
velvet-like flowers, filled the air with a perfume of musk 
and violets combined. 

As we passed the Hacienda de la Calabasa, the first 
inhabited spot below Santa Cruz, I was invited by a 
Mexican servant into the building. In the courtyard I was 
greeted by two Germans, who inhabited this place, with 
their numerous retinue of Mexicans, Pima Indians, and 
"tame" Apaches. One of these gentlemen, M. de H., 
had been implicated in the so-called Francfort attentat of 
1832, and been obliged to leave Germany. Since that 
time he had lived in various parts of the world, and had at 
last come to Sohora from California. Here he had made 
the acquaintance of one of the most distinguished men of 
Mexico, Don Manuel Gandara, who owned this hacienda ; 
and they had joined in making an attempt to establish here 
a civilized population, in spite of the Apaches, and to in- 
troduce the breeding of sheep on a large scale, for which 
the country is peculiarly fitted. M. de H. had been 
so fortunate as to meet with another German who resolved 
to share this bold enterprise with him. Gandara, to make 



496 FIGHTS WITH THE APACHES. Book III. 

a beginning, had transferred to them five thousand sheep ; 
they had brought together the necessary number of shep- 
herds and labourers, male and female : and in this situation 
I now met my two countrymen, who welcomed me kindly, 
and treated me with a glass of Mezcal, or Agave spirits, 
the only refreshment they had to offer. One of our drivers, 
an educated young man from Weimar, was so much pleased 
that he resolved to remain here. I fear that the numerous 
Indian girls, collected in the courtyard of the building, and 
amongst whom were seen some very pretty faces, and many 
perfect figures, had a great share in this resolution : I hope 
that he will not have had cause to repent it. Life in these 
parts of the country is a dangerous existence. The two 
gentlemen told me that, soon after they had established 
themselves in this Hacienda, they were surprised by a band 
of Apaches, and how some fortunate circumstance had be- 
friended them. The Indians, who had in their rancheria 
talked over their predatory expedition, were so imprudent 
as to betray their project to a Mexican prisoner, who, on 
the departure of the band, escaped, and reached Tucson in 
safety. The Commandant of the Mexican garrison in that 
place, when informed of this fact, ordered his men to mount 
instantly, and go to the succour of the threatened hacienda, 
Just as the Apaches were descending the hill on one side, 
the Mexican troops appeared on the other; and, in the 
battle that ensued, — in which, as I afterwards heard, Mr. 
H. killed three Indians with his own hand, — the savages 
learnt such a lesson that they have ever since left the 
hacienda unmolested. 

Below Calabasas the valley shows an interesting forma- 
tion. The mountains on both sides recede somewhat, and 
the wide valley is filled with granite-hills, and horizontal 
layers of a conglomerate similar to that of San Pedro. 



Chap. V. TRAVELLING COMPANIONS. 497 

The river makes its way through these rocks. Below this 
opening the valley widens again, and large poplars, willows, 
and walnut-trees, grow along the bank of the river, while 
the hills are covered with mezquite, holm-oaks, and 
juniper-trees. The mountains in this part are said to be 
rich in gold and silver, the working of which is only 
obstructed by the Indians. 

The following day we reached the Mission of Tumacacori, 
situated in the valley, and consisting of an imposing stone 
church, with other considerable buildings. Three Ger- 
mans and a Frenchman have settled here, and claimed to 
be the lawful owners of the Mission, and the property 
attached to it. The situation is very interesting: high 
mountains of columnar porphyry rise behind the buildings, 
in front of which runs the river, bordered with a shady 
thicket; the bottom of the valley stretches out on both 
sides, and the new-settled colonists have still the fruits of 
the old garden of the Mission. A second travelling 
companion, Mr. C, — a German likewise, and an edu- 
cated man, — left us here, and joined the inhabitants of 
Tumacacori. 

I have already spoken of the various appearance of 
the Mezquite or Algarobbia ; and I am here reminded in 
passing through a little wood of mezquite trees, to refer 
to this subject again. This remarkable plant appears in 
different forms on the coast of Texas, on the high plateau 
of the Pecos, on the Rio Grande, in the south of Chi- 
huahua, and lastly, here in Sonora, on the Gila and Colo- 
rado. In these latter places it is an elegant little tree, but 
its feathery foliage yields little shade. One evening we 
were driving through a wood of these trees, one-half of the 
sky was illumined by the full moon, and in the other a 
storm was coming up. The uncertain light shining through 

2 k 



498 SAGUARRO, OR THE GIANT CACTUS. Book IIT. 

the delicate foliage upon our dark road, lighted up occa- 
sionally by a flash of lightning, was an interesting scene. 

In the lower part of the valley of Santa Cruz, the 
gigantic columnar cactus ( Cereus giganteus) is first seen 
upon the road. The inhabitants of the country call it 
Saguarro ; but various authors, and recently Bartlett, have 
applied the name of Pitaya (Pita-haya) to this remarkable 
plant. This name, however, belongs to another species of 
cactus, of a similar but much lower growth. The latter 
also appears not to be found so far north, but occurs fre- 
quently further down in Sonora. I have obtained my 
information respecting the difference of these two species of 
cactus from a good authority — the chief of the Pimas — 
who told me decidedly that the cactus-shafts in that part 
were not Pitayas, but Saguarros. 

The Saguarro presents a thick fluted column, the size of 
a man's body, and thirty, forty, and even fifty, feet high, 
with sometimes three or four branches at its top, the whole 
looking like a gigantic candelabrum. The fig-shaped 
edible fruit grows at the edge on the top of the columns ; 
and from the great height of the latter it would be difficult 
to get at them, did not this remarkable plant itself afford 
the means of reaching it. The old stems, when decayed, 
split into a number of thin poles, standing in a circle, the 
height of the entire column enveloped in a loose net- work ; 
and by the aid of these the traveller is enabled to knock 
down the fruit. I have been told that these poles form an 
article of export from the port of Guaymas, and in Europe 
are made into walking-sticks, and sold under the name 
of " Spanish canes." I cannot, however, vouch for the 
correctness of this account. The Pimas at the old Mission 
of San Xavier del Bac had a large store of Saguarro fruit, 
which is used as food in various ways. It is eaten fresh ; 



Chap. V. SAN XAVIER DEL BAC. 499 

the sap is boiled to a syrup, known throughout Sonora 
by the name of " Miel de Saguarro ;" and a flour is pre- 
pared of the cleaned and dried seeds, which have some re- 
semblance in appearance and taste to poppy-seeds, and are 
contained in the fruit in great quantities. This flour is 
made partly into bread and partly into a chocolate-like 
drink, called Atole. 

The fruit of the Pitaya is said to be far better than that 
of the Saguarro. Both are of great importance to the 
population of Sonora. In some bad harvests, occasioned 
by the want of rain, shortly before my journey through 
this state, a large portion of the inhabitants were obliged 
to live on these and other wild cactus fruits. 

I can scarcely recal any surprise greater than I expe- 
rienced at the sight of the buildings of the old and cele- 
brated mission of San Xavier del Bac, standing in a re- 
gion of sublime and simple grandeur, a monument of the 
wonderful activity and energy of the old Catholic mission- 
aries. A broad plain, mostly in a wild state of nature, 
covered with grass, bushes, and groves of algarobbia, is 
encompassed by imposing mountains and masses of rock. 
The fields of wheat, regularly divided, are the property of 
the Christian Pimas who were formerly settled here. 
Grand natural features are here united with important 
conditions of civilization. From its situation, the place is 
destined to become the capital of this central region, — a 
region of charming oases, and rich mineral wealth. 

The stately church is in good preservation, and is 
considered one of the most beautiful in the State of 
Sonora : in it, by the side of tasteless carvings and barbar- 
ous decorations, is an altar richly overlaid with gold. Near 
this edifice stand the low mud huts of the few Pimas still 
residing here. They are proud of being Christians, and 

2 K 2 



500 SAN XAVIER DEL BAG. Book III. 

speak of the heathen part of their tribe — "los Gentiles" — 
with great contempt. They have, however, long been 
without any spiritual or other instruction, and have re- 
tained many of their heathen usages : for instance, the de- 
struction of the property of a dead person,— a custom which 
renders all improvement in their material condition im- 
possible. They are a good-natured, quiet, honest, and 
inoffensive people, maintaining a strict discipline, which 
they may have acquired from a mixture of Jesuit disci- 
pline and the remains of old Indian customs. They un- 
derstand Spanish tolerably well, but they refused to speak 
it with us. We had a difficulty in making any purchases 
from them, partly from their having little to offer for sale, 
and partly from their being apparently quite devoid of 
any speculative spirit. There was an unmistakeable ob- 
tuseness in them, apparently peculiar to the Christianized 
Indians — a downcast retiring manner, which I have no- 
ticed among this class of people in other parts. They made 
frequent visits to our camp, but they sat there for hours, 
mute and motionless : their children entertained us by 
exhibiting their skill in shooting with the bow. Their 
arrows were pointed with flint, which was covered with a 
dark substance, which they said consisted of the poison 
taken from a serpent; but this seems to me very im- 
probable. 

The position of these people and the condition of the 
spot, must have altered entirely since that time. San Xavier 
del Bac is now a military station of the United States, 
which is the certain commencement of a town. 

We remained here several days, during which time we 
received and returned visits with other caravans which 
happened to be in the neighbourhood. In these I found 
several persons whom I had met before accidentally. One 



Chap. V. CHRISTIAN PIMAS. 501 

of these was Mr. H., from Brunswick, with whom I had 
slept in the same tent, and under the same blanket, in 
New Mexico. I met him again in Chihuahua, at El Paso, 
in the Steppe on the Rio de los Mimbros, and later on 
at Los Angeles and San Francisco. A Mr. M. ; from 
Texas, whom I had last seen at El Paso, was also at this 
time at San Xavier with his cattle : this man met with a 
remarkable adventure in his journey to California. A 
partner in his enterprise had, it appeared, plotted to put 
him out of the way during the march, and to take sole 
possession of the herds. To accomplish this project, he 
headed a mutiny of the hired cattle-drovers. They openly 
refused to obey Mr. M., who found himself in a very un- 
pleasant situation, when the Apaches murdered the two 
ringleaders of the mutiny. This circumstance led the rest 
to believe that it was an infliction of Divine vengeance, 
and they returned to their duty. It, however, occasioned 
Mr. M. the loss of part of his herds : another part pe- 
rished from want of water, and the rest were taken by 
the Indians ; so that he arrived at California with the loss 
of his whole property, where I heard this account of his 
adventures from himself. 

I visited the Pimas in their dwellings. At first they were 
shy ; but, at length, I succeeded in gaining the confidence 
of an old man, with whom I carried on an animated con- 
versation. The women then regaled me with peas-porridge 
and cakes made of wheaten flour. They also cultivate 
beans, gourds, and melons, and grow the cotton for their 
own use. I saw them busy weaving, which they do in a 
very primitive manner. The threads are stretched hori- 
zontally the length of the intended piece of cloth, and the 
woof is then worked in by the hand. The coloured belts, 
with which the girls fasten a piece of cloth round their 



502 EUROPEAN ADVENTURERS. Book III. 

waist, to serve as a kind of petticoat, are woven very 
artistically. They are tasty, and the figures woven into 
them are of the old Mexican style. The blue colour 
of the figures is said to be their own indigo dyeing, and 
the red colour is produced by threads of such red stuff as 
they meet with in trade, and which they unravel. It 
would be erroneous, however, to imagine that these arts 
have been promoted by their conversion to Christianity j 
on the contrary, they are found in greater perfection among 
the pagan Pimas. 

Near this spot rises a conical hill, consisting of an 
eruption of Hypersthen-rock. Several similar hills rise 
in the plain, and some steep hills, which border this 
plain on the west like towers or walls, appear to have the 
same petrographic character. The brown rocks, with the 
Saguarro columns, give a peculiarly sober and severe aspect 
to the landscape. 

During our stay at San Xavier, Mr. Cubillas, one of 
the prominent politicians of .the State of Sonora, and a 
man of great wealth, arrived, accompanied by a numerous 
retinue. He was on his way to inspect his extensive 
estates, which, being situated in a perfect wilderness, 
had hitherto been valueless; he had now the prospect 
of their becoming of great value, in consequence of the 
transfer of the territory to the United States. I was sur- 
prised at observing that the retinue of this gentleman 
consisted of men of various nations — a German, an Hun- 
garian, a Dane, two Irishmen, and a North- American, — 
all, doubtless, adventurers by profession, who had met by 
accident in these remote parts. The Dane had succes- 
sively settled in China, in East India, and in Peru ; the rest 
had come from the United States. 

Not far below San Xavier, upon a height in the valley, 



Chap. V. 



TUCSON. 



503 



close to the river and surrounded by a thick mezquite- 
wood, lies the little place of Tubac, the population of 
which are mostly Indians, amongst whom are many 
" tame " Apaches. The women and girls of this people 
sat by the road-side, staring at us with their broad, fat, 
rnongol, expressionless faces. 

The last inhabited place in the valley is Tucson. At 
that time it was the most northern of the Mexican military 
posts : having now, together with Tubac and San Xavier, 
been transferred to the United States, Santa Cruz has 
probably taken its place. We encamped a few miles 
above the town, in a pleasant part of the valley. A rapid 
brook, clear as crystal, and full of aquatic plants, fish, and 
tortoises of various kinds, flowed through a small meadow 
covered with shrubs. The meadow itself was situated at 
the foot of a steep rocky hill, with a watch-tower on the 
top, where the Mexican garrison used to keep a guard 
stationed to watch the Indians. The sides of the hill were 
so covered with cactus-columns that it might have been 
called a Saguarro-forest, could the term have been applied 
to a spot overgrown with bare trunks, without any crown 
whatever. Here I saw for the first time a small tree re- 
sembling a Genista, Spartium, or Retama. It has a green 
stem, green branches, and green twigs delicately subdi- 
vided, with only a few slight rudiments of leaves. It bears 
yellow blossoms, and pods with a single seed. This tree, 
which we often met with afterwards, and which belongs to 
the plants characteristic of the rocky deserts on the Gila, 
was called Corchi by the Mexicans ; they suck the acid 
gum which oozes from its bark to allay thirst. 1 



1 I have no doubt this tree has 
already been described, and my account 
of it above is of course not intended for 



botanists, but for those who take an 
interest in the general physiognomy of 
landscapes. 



504 A DESERT OF DUST AND CLAY. Book III. 

We had hitherto been following the course of the river 
of Santa Cruz, which, although its channel was found dry 
in several places, constantly re-appeared. But below 
Tucson it loses itself in the desert, through which our 
road now lay. 

In the evening of July 16th we broke up our camp and 
and entered upon this desert, extending as far as the Gila, 
and in which, according to the latest intelligence, we had 
not to expect to find any water for the distance of eighty 
or ninety miles. 

At the beginning our road led through a thicket of 
mezquite, but gradually all vegetation ceased. Darkness 
had set in, and our waggons toiled through dust ankle- 
deep, the thick clouds of which were, from time to time, 
illumined by the lightning of a thunderstorm over the 
mountains of Tubac and Tumacacori. After several hours' 
toil, we reached a plain covered with hard clay, and 
breathed a purer and cooler air. We continued our 
march in silence through the night. When morning 
dawned, the clayey desert, hard and perfectly barren, 
stretched before us to the foot of the Picacho, a bold 
pyramidal rock, rising abruptly from the plain. I rode 
on in advance of our caravan. On approaching the 
mountain the road began to be moist : here and there 
mud had collected. At length there was the gleam of 
water : a small pool ! a second ! a third ! I jumped off 
my horse, and led it from one to the other until it had 
relieved its thirst ; then I laid down flat on the ground, 
and drank with avidity the yellow clayey fluid. Rain 
had fallen during the night, but insufficient for our 
caravan, which therefore continued its route without 
stopping. 

We halted nearer to the foot of the mountain, by the 



Chap. V. SCENES IN THE DESERT. 505 

side of some pools of water, the slimy contents of which 
swarmed with the larvae of insects and gigantic toads, and 
of which our beasts drank with great repugnance. The 
scene around our encampment was very peculiar: the 
surface of the desert ascends towards the mountain, form- 
ing a flat elevation, from which the black gigantic mass of 
rocks lifts its pointed summit. With the elevation of the 
ground at the foot of the mountain begins the vegetation 
characteristic of the rocky desert of this part of the 
country, such as I have already described : small trees and 
inezquite bushes, various kinds of acacias, and leafless but 
yet green corchi, columns and candelabra of the saguarro. 
For the first time our beasts fed exclusively on the pods of 
the algarobbia or mezquite-beans, this region being abso- 
lutely devoid of grass. Other rocks rise from the plain 
at various distances, and, to judge from their colour and 
form, belong to different eruptive mineral substances : in 
some places black masses, as if just sprung out of the 
ground, rise straight up. On continuing our journey, 
in the evening at sunset, such a rock stood exactly in 
the centre of the ocean of light which illumined the 
western horizon, and golden beams were playing through 
an opening in the dark wall. The scene produced an 
almost theatrical effect. 

Again we travelled throughout the night, and halted in 
the morning near some pools of water, with the same dis- 
gusting appearance of larvae and toads. We continued 
our route in view of a long and steep ridge of rock, appa- 
rently consisting of piled-up blocks of syenite, or diorite, 
and arrived towards noon at the Gila-Lagoon, a deep, 
brown, brackish water of small extent, and surrounded by 
tall algarobbiae and a tolerable grass. Here we found a 
party of Pima Indians, who were busy in gathering the al- 



506 THE PIMAS. Book III. 

garobbia-pods. They belonged to the heathen remains of 
that nation who dwell on the Gila, while its greater part, 
under the name of the Papagos, live in the State of Sonora, 
forming an essential portion of its civilized and Christian 
population. This party consisted of men, women, boys, 
and girls, who were at once on friendly terms with us. 

The Pimas 1 have been mentioned favourably by various 
travellers, and they produce, indeed, a pleasing impression. 
The dwelling-places of the tribe, the so-called Pima-villages 
on the Gila, are known to geographers, and marked down 
on all maps. The small party near us on the Laguna 
was merely temporarily here. When the pods of the 
algarobbia are ripe, this tribe disperses in the thickets near 
the river to gather in this important article of food, which 
I have nowhere else found in similar perfection. This 
year it was to them especially important : the river had 
little water, and only a few fields could be cultivated, as 
their productive power entirely depends on irrigation from 
the river. 

The pod of the algarobbia, or so-called mezquite-bean, 
has also been described by travellers, and their importance 
to the inhabitants of the Gila and Colorado districts, as 
well as to the herds of cattle which pass this way on their 
route to California, is well known. I will therefore only 
make a few observations in order to present the reader with 
an illustration of the subject I speak of. Let him imagine 
a small tree with thorny branches and a feathery foliage, 
full of green or yellowish pods, which do not dry on the 
branch, but fall off as soon as they are in a certain state of 
maturity. At these times the ground of the mezquite 
woods is often covered with them inch-deep. In this state 



Not "Pimos," as many North Americans write. 



Chap. V. THE MEZQUITE BEAN. 507 

the substance of the pod which surrounds the beans is 
more or less dry, pithy, and of a sweet taste. The half- 
ripe pods fall on shaking the tree. In an earlier stage of 
maturity the covering substance has a pleasant acid taste, 
similar to that of a good summer apple. But these pods 
are quite uneatable, they can only be chewed and sucked, 
and they thus proved a pleasant refreshment. I have been 
told that the dry ripe pods are ground in Mexico, and that 
bread is made of the flour, but I did not hear whether the 
beans are used for the same purpose, nor whether the 
Pimas understand this culinary process. These people 
offered us an acid drink, extracted from the pods, which 
are soaked in water until fermentation begins ; they seemed 
to be fond of it. The fruit constitutes here the chief pro- 
vender for horses and mules, grass growing but scantily. 
When these animals have once tasted it, they conceive 
such a passion for it, that it is difficult to keep them in 
order when the road leads through a mezquite country. 
The abundance of this product in many places of the Gila 
and Colorado is incredible. 

We and our Indian friends were soon engaged in an 
animated barter. We received from them some green 
ears of maize, which are excellent roasted over a coal-fire, 
and proved a perfect luxury to us travellers, tired as we 
were of our caravan diet. I exchanged, with a pleasing 
looking girl, one of the most elementary articles of my dress 
for the whole of her national wardrobe, consisting of a 
home-woven, thick, cotton blanket, which she wore wrapt 
round her body, reaching down to the knees, and of one of 
those pretty figured belts, which serve to fasten it. The 
latter was a production of her own industry, and she 
seemed to part with it reluctantly. It is due to her to 
observe, that her change of dress was not performed in 



508 CHARACTER OF THE PIMAS. Book III. 

my presence, and that in this bargain I had considerably 
the advantage of her. The modest demeanour, bright eye, 
and pleasing manner, which I noticed in our intercourse 
with these people — features so peculiar to them — produce a 
most agreeable impression, and they often presented 
genuine scenes of idyllic life. Here and there, under the 
shade of an old algarobbia or of one of our waggons, 
might be seen sitting or standing a merry, innocent group : 
old men stretched out upon the ground ; women and 
children sitting by their side ; boys standing near in pairs, 
one with his arm round the other's neck, and the latter 
leaning on his bow ; pretty girls, in their semi-paradisic 
costume, walking quietly and naively among our drivers 
and muleteers, who never ventured any rude gallantry — 
all this formed such a pleasing scene as quite to call forth 
every gentle feeling in us, who were accustomed to meet 
the Indian only armed for attack or defence. To com- 
plete the picture of this Indian tribe, I must add that 
it unites such decided courage with his peaceful and ami- 
able qualities, as to inspire even" the savage Apaches with 
respect. I believe that the character of the aboriginal 
Americans can be seen to such advantage among none 
of the remaining tribes. 



Chap. VT. JOURNEY DOWN THE GILA. 509 



CHAPTEE VI 

Journey down the Gila — Casas Blancas — Campo Grande — Hydro-geolog ^al 
Remarks — The Cocomaricopas — Ethnological Remarks from the Narra- 
tive of their Chief — Hair and singular Head-dresses — Robbers and Mur- 
derers in our Camp — Insecurity of the Gila and Colorado Region — 
Revolutionary Movement in Sonora — Valley Pass and rocky Desert — 
Heat of the Gila Valley — The Chief of the Pimas and indescribable 
Music — Hickey's Hollow — Annual Grasses — Lava Terraces of the Gila 
Valley — Indian Hieroglyphics — Opinion as to their Meaning — Footpath 
worn in the Rocks of a Mountain Summit — Conjectures as to the Age of 
the Hieroglyphics — A Party of Cocopas in our Camp — View from Summit 
of Mountain — Arrival at the Colorado — Camp Yuma — The Yuma Indians 
— Colorado City ■ — Passage of Steamer — Crossing the Colorado. 

After passing the lagoon we travelled through the night, 
and rested the following day in a grove of algarobbias, on 
the bank of the Gila, near a group of temporary huts of 
the Pimas. The river, which I had pictured to myself 
as a large stream, was here only a small brook, flowing 
over a sandy bed. Poplars, willows, and various kinds of 
shrubs, grow on its banks ; the rest of the bottom land is 
covered with algarobbias, while barren alluvial terraces rise 
on each side, covered with the usual desert growth of these 
regions. At noon the water of the stream, which is clear, 
and has a considerable fall, was so warm that our animals 
would not drink. 

We travelled again through the night, and passed some 
Pima villages in the dark, so that I lost the opportunity 
of seeing the domestic life of this interesting race. At 
Tucson we had engaged some muleteers, who had been 
often along the Gila; and they told me that in one of the 
villages was a " Casa blanca de Montezuma" — a white 
house of Montezuma. This is the expression used by the 



510 CASAS GRANDES DE MONTEZUMA. Book III. 

Mexicans of Tucson, as well as by the Indians along the 
Gila, when they could command so much Spanish, for the 
ruins in this region. By others they are called " Casas 
grandes de Montezuma." Bartlett is right in considering 
that the addition " de Montezuma " is not Indian, but a 
repetition from the Spaniards. On the other hand, M. 
Garcia, the commander at Tucson, maintained that the 
Pi mas had old traditions extending beyond the conquest 
of Mexico, when they belonged to the empire of the 
Aztecs. This, however, I doubt. The assertion of our 
muleteers from Tucson, that an old Indian ruin existed in 
one of the Pima villages may be incorrect, for I find no 
mention of one, in any of the accounts of this region with 
which I am acquainted. But I regret still on this account 
that we did not travel by day, and that I could not 
require our people to show me the supposed " white house 
of Montezuma." Bartlett visited and has described * the 
ruins near the Salinas, as also those higher up, near the 
Gila ; and although, like many others, he passed through 
the Pima villages, he mentions nothing corroborative of 
what these Tucson muleteers asserted. According to his 
description of the " casas grandes " which are found beyond 
the Gila lagoon, near the river, the Commander of Tucson 
is also in this respect wrong, for he told me that I should 
see these ruins from the road. With this object in view, 
I several times stood up on my horse in order to gain 
what height I could, and was afterwards convinced, from 
Bartlett's account of them, that I made this experiment 
uselessly. 

After a prolonged march through the night and part of 
the next morning, we reached an extensive space in the 



1 Bartlett's Personal Narrative, vol. ii., chaps, xxxi. and xxxii. 



Chap. VI. COCOMABICOPAS AND PIMAS. 511 

valley, covered with grass, and containing many springs. 
The Cocomaricopas and the Pimas who visited us here 
called the place " el Carapo Grande " — the Great Camp. 
Below this spot the valley becomes contracted by rocky 
mountains, and, leaving the bottom, the road had to ascend 
to the left among the rocks of a gloomy desert, from which 
a hot wind met us. We therefore encamped upon the 
grass to rest, before commencing this laborious march. 
The ground among the grass is covered in places with an 
efflorescence of salt. The numerous springs are similar in 
their quality to the " natural wells " near the dry Lagoon, 
which region indeed this resembles. Conditional upon 
certain geological causes, the springs throughout an exten- 
sive region are all of the same character, while from similar 
reasons they differ in others. Strong, clear, rocky springs 
rise in the Texan chalk formation, while in the region be- 
tween the Bio Grande and the Gila, where we now were, 
the prevalent form of springs is a deep hole in the grassy 
bottom of a valley, several being grouped together. 

While we remained here we had numerous visits from the 
surrounding Indians. The Cocomaricopas, whose villages 
were close to our camp, came as well as the Pimas. A 
man of the former nation, who spoke Spanish tolerably, 
explained to me that the Pimas and the Cocomaricopas 
had agreed with two other tribes, the Cocopa and the 
Quejuen, to maintain themselves by agriculture 5 and that 
five other tribes, less peacefully disposed, the Apaches, 
Macjave, Simojueves, Comedas, and Cuchian, were their 
confederate enemies. He did not name the Yumas, 
although they belonged to the enemies of the Pimas and 
their allies ; but they may have been included in these 
names. This man told me farther, that some years pre- 
viously, these had all assembled by the Colorado, and had 



512 COMAKICOPAS AND PIMAS. Book III. 

sent a messenger to challenge the four tribes to war. They 
took the field, and, after a march of ten days, came upon 
their enemy. A battle, which lasted two days, ensued, 
in which they were the victors. The account appears 
true ; and one of our guides, who had been farther down 
the Colorado, stated that even now numerous skeletons 
remain at a place where the Indians once fought a great 
battle. 

An old Cocomaricopa, who we were told was one of their 
chiefs, came to our camp, asked for our leader, and made 
Mr. K. very politely a present of green maize. We gave 
in return some tobacco, upon which he asked for a shirt, 
and, having received one, came and sat down by us. 
There was a certain etiquette in the whole transaction, 
which probably we did not understand or sufficiently 
acknowledge. 

The Cocomaricopas appeared to me less amiable than 
the Pimas; neither could we praise their honesty, for 
several things were stolen from our camp. A young lad, 
with his face painted blue, took a loaf of bread, ran to 
the nearest water, where he washed himself, and then 
mixed with others of his tribe, convinced that we should not 
recognise him. Another very old man sat close by me the 
whole day, and smoked segars which I gave him. He 
then shared our meal ; but after it, when I asked him for 
some words of the Maricopa language, he at first pretended 
not to understand me, and then refused unless I gave 
him a shirt. " We are very poor," he said ; "if you 
want me to tell you something, you must give me some- 
thing for it." I had made an exchange with a young man 
for a flute, which was interesting to me not only as an 
instrument, but on account of the original carving with 
which it was adorned. Repenting his bargain, he brought 



Chap. VI. COCOMARICOPAS AND PIMAS. 513 

me back what I had given him, and required the flute 
again. Upon my refusal, he became insolent ; and when I 
told him that I would complain to the chief, he laughed, 
and said that the latter was his uncle. He then supported 
his claim by remarking that, as I could not play upon it, I 
ought not to have it. However, since I have learnt from 
Bartlett's work that the young men of the Cocomaricopas 
serenade the maidens at night on their flutes, I have not 
felt surprised that he regretted exchanging his instrument 
for an article of old clothing. 

These Indians are especially remarkable from their 
hair, and the way in which they dress it: the quantity, 
thickness, and length of it are almost incredible. They 
plait and wind it round their heads in many ways : one of 
the most general, forms a turban, which they smear with 
wet earth, so that when dry it forms a hard crust; the 
scorching heat of the sun in these regions has probably led 
to this custom. I speak here only of the men, as I saw no 
woman in the tribe. 

In this respect their conduct entirely differed from that 
of the Pimas : with them their women came principally 
into our camp, where they conducted themselves with 
perfect ease, but at the same time with entire decorum 
and modesty. The Cocomaricopas, on the contrary, 
seemed to mistrust their women, keeping them quite apart 
from us, and evidently not relishing a proposal made by 
some of our people, to visit their village. 

From hence and lower down the valley we met some 
suspicious and dangerous characters, who, as we afterwards 
learned in California, belonged to an extensive band of rob- 
bers, or were upon the point of forming themselves into 
one. Five North Americans came first to our camp, of 
whom one related that he was the last of a party who were 

2 L 



514 BOBBERS AND MURDERERS IN OUR CAMP. Book IIL 

journeying from the interior of Sonora, by El Altar, to the 
Gila river, and of whom four had perished on the road 
from want of water. He had himself been several davs 
without food and water,, and had but yesterday met with 
four other travellers from California. It was possible that 
the man had originally belonged to Walker's expedition 
against Sonora, which not long before our journey through 
the Gila territory, had come to a tragical end ; but the 
good looks and the slight hunger of the man were suspi- 
cious, as being inconsistent with his statements. The 
remarks of an old Indian also were singular, and I re- 
gretted not being able to understand them fully. What I 
believed he said was, that a few miles off in the desert, a 
dying man was lying near the road, who belonged to this 
party, and to whom they had promised help, which they 
purposely avoided giving. Farther down the river, a few 
days later, we met three more adventurers. They also told 
us that a fourth belonging to their party had been killed on 
the road, and that we should probably find his body. He 
had been missed by them, and when found was dead and 
covered with blood. It struck me that some murder was 
at the bottom of all these tales, probably committed upon 
one of their fellow travellers. After the last-mentioned 
three had been entertained by us, and assisted from our 
stores, they repaid our hospitality by getting possession of 
one of our best mules at the rear of our caravan, by a 
falsehood. Riding past the muleteers they said that they 
were to choose a mule, having bought one of Mr. K., and 
having selected one they took it away. Our people re- 
cognised one of these three men : he was a notorious 
character from Texas, who had joined Walker's expedition 
against Sonora, and he even boasted to one of our men that, 
with some others, he had taken a small town in Sonora, and 



Chap. VI. REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT IN SONORA. 515 

forced a contribution of 12,000 dollars from its inhabitants. 
Subsequently, when I was staying in California, this fellow 
was named in the public papers as the leader of a robber 
band, which spread itself from the gold mines to the valley 
of Santa Cruz in Upper Sonora, and later still I saw the 
following notice in a Californian paper : — " Many will re- 
member M. Staudt, of San Francisco, who went two years 
since to Sonora, and who on his journey back to California 
was robbed and murdered by his two travelling companions. 
Major Emory, of the Boundary Commission, met with the 
latter on the road from El Paso to Chihuahua, where they 
sold him two of Staudt's mules. The one is a Dane or a 
North German, a desperado of the first class, and known 
under the name of Dutch Charley ; the other is a Texan, 
called Ned Hines." This was the name of the man whom 
we received in our camp on the Gila. 

After the unsuccessful expedition of Walker the Ame- 
rican, and of Count Raousset de Boulbon, the Frenchman, 
the State of Sonora continued to be the scene of action, 
and the object of numerous adventurers of every descrip- 
tion, who attached themselves to the leaders of the dif- 
ferent native parties. I have already mentioned a circum- 
stance illustrative of this state of things. Goldseekers, 
and men engaged in wild speculations in mines and land, 
immigrants into the territory lately ceded to the United 
States by Mexico — all these, including highwaymen and 
criminals escaped from California,- — men of every shade 
of character from the best to the worst, appeared to hold 
themselves in readiness for an outbreak, by which the State 
of Sonora and the peninsula of California would be sepa- 
rated from Mexico. Casual remarks which reached me 
from different people in widely different places, and lastly, 
from fugitives who had reached California from Sonora, 

2 L 2 



516 HEAT OF THE GILA VALLEY. Book III 

convinced me of the fact. It is well known even in Europe 
that an attempt tending in that direction, and ending still 
more unfortunately than the two previous ones, has been 
made after the time of my passing through the country. 

We broke up our camp in the evening • but, in spite of 
the late hour, the wind met us hot from the rocky desert 
through which we had to pass. We had suffered from the 
heat all along the Gila. I had no thermometer with me, 
but it is well known that the summer heat of these regions 
ranges from 100° to 120° Fahrenheit in the shade. But the 
effect of this high temperature upon the body must be esti- 
mated by the dryness and the rocky character of the soil, 
rather than by the scale of degrees. The ground was so 
hot that if our mules stood still for a minute or two, they 
twitched up their feet in evident pain, and even after mid- 
night I could not sit down on the rock with comfort. Our 
Mexican drivers during this journey would sit the greater 
part of the night, naked upon their mules, and yet were 
bathed in perspiration. Towards morning alone, was the 
slightest degree of coolness to be perceived. The shade, 
during the day, brought no refreshment, and wind increased 
the scorching heat, by adding fresh supplies, instead of 
lessening them. I was obliged one day, lower down the 
valley, to go about a mile in the river, in search of some 
missing mules ; and the water was as hot as that of a 
very warm foot-bath. Whenever I came upon a dry sand 
bank, I found it too hot to bear more than a few steps 
upon it,* indeed I am sure that 100 steps would have 
blistered my feet. 

The old chief of the Pimas, whose authority is recog- 
nized by the Cocomaricopas, and whose name, whether, 
according to some travellers, it may be Cola Azul, or, 
according to others, Culo Azul, has an equally inexpres- 



Chap. VI. HICKEY'S HOLLOW. 517 

sible meaning, wished to escort us for a short dis- 
tance with a small body of young men, in order, as he 
frankly said, to have the pleasure of riding in a carriage. 
I placed myself with him in one of our empty baggage- 
waggons, and was greatly amused by observing how his 
Indian Highness enjoyed the shaking and jolting of this 
horrible road. During a portion of it, which was smooth, 
our mules quickened their pace, and the escort of my noble 
companion trotted after us, expressing their satisfaction in 
a sort of chant, in short broken sounds, which I can 
compare to nothing, except perhaps the regular bark of at 
least twenty dogs. 

The journey of this night took us through a gloomy 
granite desert, over the bare rocks of which our waggons 
jolted and tumbled as if the wheels must have gone to 
pieces. At break of day the scene was wild and grand in 
the extreme ; but, wearied and exhausted, we all, men and 
animals, crept down the road towards the river ; the moun- 
tain pass by which we descended, opening into the clayey 
desert below. Masses of granite rose on either hand, 
bare from their base to their summit, with the exception of 
a few Saguarro shafts, cacti covered with long white 
thorns, acacias, and some small Corchi trees. Towards 
noon w T e reached the river, having accomplished forty-five 
miles in seventeen hours without stopping. 

We rested during the day, and journeyed on again 
through the night. In the morning we reached a cam ping- 
place called Hickey's Hollow. This is a narrow strip of 
land about one hundred paces wide and several miles long, 
lving two or three feet lower than the general level of the 
flat region near the river. This hollow remains moist and 
receives a sufficient quantity of alluvial soil, from an exten- 
sive region of basaltic or doleritic lava, to form quite an 



518 LAVA TERBACES OF THE GILA. Book III. 

oasis in the desert. It is shaded by mezquite-trees, and 
we found it covered with fresh grass just sprung up from 
the seed. Most of the grasses in this region, as also in the 
desert of the Colorado and in many parts of California, 
appear to be annuals : excepting the seed, not a trace 
remains of the growth of the former year ; but this, washed 
by the first summer rains, together with the soil, into the 
hollows around, shoots up in thick masses forming little 
meadows. After a few months, this in its turn dies off, 
leaving the seed to flourish again the next summer. This 
appears to me an important indication as to the possibility 
of cultivating certain portions of these deserts. 

A broad terrace of doleritic lava with perpendicular 
sections towards the valley, extends from hence far down 
the Gila. Our road brought us over a rough tract of 
rocks of the above-named character, where I saw some 
desert plants unknown to me and of very remarkable 
appearance, but I was not able to examine them more 
closely. Reaching the bottom of the valley, we found it 
to be covered with loose sand, either bare and drifted by 
the wind, or covered with an impervious thicket of several 
varieties of ashy-coloured chenopodiaceous shrubs, in which 
thousands of the Californian quail found shelter. A 
variety of these shrubs, called by the Mexicans, Chamisso, 
yields a serviceable food for cattle. Our mules and horses, 
however, would not touch it. The road continued bad 
down the valley. Then through the deep sand which the 
wind had heaped up on the lava terraces, our waggons had 
again to be dragged up to their upper level. The shouts 
and oaths, the cracking of whips, the whining of the mules, 
— the Mexican drivers themselves call it llorar, — the jolt- 
ing of the waggons over the blocks of lava, the black, 
heated masses of rock, looking doubly black in the dark 



Chap. VI. 



INDIAN HIEROGLYPHICS. 



519 



night, — a few ghostly Saguarro shafts, — all combined to 
produce a weirdlike scene unequalled by the gloomiest 
imagination. 

The flat rocks and blocks of stone on the precipitous 
sides of these terraces are, for considerable distances, 
covered with Indian characters, cut upon them. The 
traveller who would study and collect these strange and, as 
yet, unexplained carvings, would find occupation for many 
weeks. 




I will venture here to make some remarks upon this 
subject. Mr. Bartlett l is of opinion that these so-called 
Indian hieroglyphics have no historical meaning, but are 
simply the production of an imaginative fancy; and the 
number of drawings he has given in his book appear to 



Personal Narrative,' vol. II. p. 195. 





520 INDIAN HIEROGLYPHICS. Book III. 

have been chosen in support of this theory. I here give 
some delineations which may serve to uphold a contrary 
view of the subject. 

Among the many hundreds of these carvings which I 

saw along the Gila and 
elsewhere, two distinctive 
kinds are very evident. 
Ill The one contains repre- 

\ " ^k sentations of distinct ob- 

JD*x jects, such as men and 

lllIHfUIII? $ animals. Probably even 

IMJlfiUtntl 1 • A tnese P oss ess a more ge- 
neral meaning by their 
combination with each 
other and with the less ex- 
plicable characters. But 
— be that as it may — I 
am convinced that the 
second class of characters 
must have some general 
meaning, and were in- 
tended as a communica- 
tion of ideas. I have frequently asked Indians for an 
explanation ; but either they could not, or would not 
give me any. This last was evidently the case with 
the Chief of the Yumas, who took much trouble to 
convince me that the figures on the rocks near the Lower 
Ferry over the Colorado had no meaning. They were, 
he said, nothing but children's play, and done by knocking 
one stone upon another ; and he took up a stone in his 
hand and showed me how it was effected. But I have 
reason to believe that he did not speak the truth. It is pos- 
sible, and even probable, that a modern, and in this respect 




Chap. VI. INDIAN HIEKOGLYPHICS. 521 

ignorant generation, should amuse themselves by imitating 
the already existing figures ; and thoughtless imitations 
may have thus produced unmeaning results. The original 
intention of these representations may have been only known 
to the chiefs and principal men of the Indian tribes, as 
among civilized nations not all can read. But many 
circumstances tend to disprove, that these characters were 
originally nothing but the results of an early attempt at art. 
In the first place, the similarity of the style, in localities 
a thousand miles apart, and its extreme peculiarity, pre- 
clude every idea of an accidental similarity. One cannot 
imagine how the same recurring figures should have been 
used over and over again, unless they had a conventional 
character, and were intended to express something. The 
localities also in which they are found are such as to give 
them importance. For instance on the Gila, figures and 
characters are cut on rocks, which cannot be climbed 




522 INDIAN HIEROGLYPHICS. Book III. 

without difficulty ; also on precipitous sides of rocks, 
which could not be reached without mechanical con- 
trivance. 

It is scarcely to be imagined that men would take the 
trouble to get at such places, and there to carry out a diffi- 
cult and laborious work, unless they had some important end 
in view ; and the more so, since rocks and masses of stone 
abound close by, where the operation might have been 
effected easily, had it been undertaken merely for amuse- 
ment. I saw at the summit of a lofty and steep mountain 
near the Gila, below the region of the lava terraces, to 
which I have above referred, the rocks covered with these 
characters. Old footpaths, in places trodden into the rock, 
occur in great numbers along the side of the mountains, all 
tending to the summit. In my opinion these footpaths 
could only have been formed during many centuries of 
constant use ; and it is impossible not to draw the conclusion 
that some important object was connected with them, and 
with the characters carved on those rocks. The locality 
gave me the impression, that only a religious motive could 
have induced such repeated and long-continued pilgrimages. 
I also remarked these characters in places where the foot- 
path passed a rock, as if such a prominent spot had been 
chosen, to impart information to the passers-by. They 
were also engraven upon isolated stones near the road, of 
one of which I have given a drawing in a former chapter of 
this Book, it having been evidently placed near the road to 
attract attention. This road, as a carriage road, is cer- 
tainly of late construction and by the white man ; but the 
roads now used by civilized travellers mostly follow Indian 
paths, the direction of which has been determined by the 
few watering-places of the country. I have given here an 
accurate copy of some of the carvings which more especially 



Chap. VI. 



INDIAN HIEROGLYPHICS. 



523 



struck me, that the reader may form a general idea of 
their character, and of the opinions I have brought for- 
ward. One of the carvings by the Gila is particularly inte- 
resting as occurring on a rock on the precipitous side of the 
lava terraces, the present position of which, half covered 
by another mass, hiding part of the carving, proves that 
the changed position of the rocks, through some natural 
phenomenon, is of later date than the figures. 

Other engravings, also taken from the lava walls along 
the Gila, have more the character of an inscription, or of 
the communication of connected thoughts, than any others 
that I saw. 

A desert covered with pebbles and fragments of granite, 
porphyry, syenite, greenstone, jasper, &c, &c, extends 
above the lava terraces, on each side of the Gila. At the 
foot of the wall the ground is so saturated with salts, pro- 
duced by the action of the atmosphere upon the volcanic 




524 



A PARTY OF COCOPAS. 



Book III. 




rocks, that the damp of the night changed the soil into 
mud two inches in depth. Lower down I found it dry. 

In this neighbourhood we met one evening some twenty 
Indians of the Cocopa tribe. These people were engaged 
on a diplomatic mission to the Pimas, in order to arrange 
an expedition with them against the Yumas. They told 
us this, and the eager questions which the Yumas addressed 
to us respecting it when we reached the Colorado, proved 
that the latter had been aware of these proceedings. The 
Cocopas, who appeared friendly, and conducted them- 
selves perfectly well in our camp, used English words 
to make themselves understood ; all other Indians whom 
we had met, had only understood Spanish besides their 
native tongue. They were evidently influenced by the 
vicinity of California, for they are too remote from inter- 
course with the military station of Camp Yuma. The 



Chap. VI. VIEW FROM SUMMIT OF MOUNTAIN. 525 

way in which the chief of this little band addressed me 
was very comical. "You Captain, me Captain," he said. 
" You give plenty flour, plenty beans. Cocopa not 
hungry — good friends. — Not hungry — plenty to eat — no 
stealing, no hay steal ;" some Spanish getting mixed with 
their English. These people were darker in colour than 
the Cocomaricopas and the Pimas. 

Our camp was fixed one day upon the high bank of the 
river, at the base of a steep mountain peak terminating a 
rocky mountain chain. I climbed its summit, from whence 
I overlooked the desert to the north of the river — a grey 
plain, bordered by precipitous hills of a similar colour. 
This mountain is formed of a puddingstone, consisting of 
large masses of granite imbedded in a cement of diorite. As 
I contemplated the scene, I suddenly saw flames rise in the 
valley near our camp. Hastening down with the utmost 
speed, I found that our waggons fortunately were in a safe 
place ; and, our mules having been removed from the 
danger, we watched the burning of the high and dry plants 
in the valley with the interest which so striking a scene 
affords. 

We had now reached the lower course of the river, 
where the bottom land is covered with shrubs and trees, 
and enclosed by the perpendicular embankments of higher 
alluvial masses. The shrubs are principally acacias, 
many of them the same as in similar localities on the Rio 
Grande. On these embankments I remarked what is 
interesting as explanatory of facts in the vegetation of this 
region. The roots of the algarobbia were laid bare, and 
it was evident that they sought the necessary humidity 
at a depth quite extraordinary in comparison with the 
proportions of the shrub or tree. It is thus clear how 
the mezquite becomes green and blossoms in the spring, 



520 ARRIVAL AT COLORADO. Book III. 

before the advent of the summer rains. At the same 
place I saw, for the first time, a remarkable and very 
beautiful tree or shrub, which somewhat resembles the 
above-mentioned Corchi. It seems rare, for I found it 
two or three times only. The stem, branches, twigs and 
small thorns are of a greyish green ; it is without leaves, 
but the twigs are so finely divided, that from a distance 
it appears covered with delicate foliage ; twigs and 
thorns are covered with small red glands, containing a 
resin or oil, which is strongly scented, like a mixture of 
carraway, aniseed, and violets. The seeds, which were 
just ripe, were in pods, each containing one small bean : 
the pods are more thickly covered with the same red 
glands, and the scent is still stronger of aniseed than on 
the twigs. The ground was covered almost an inch thick 
with the dry flowers, of a dark violet, with the richest per- 
fume. When in blossom, the little tree must be remarkably 
beautiful ; its appearance altogether is exceedingly delicate 
and remarkable. The flower is papilionaceous. 

We now reached the plain through a rocky pass in the 
valley, forced open by the Gila. Here this stream unites 
with the Colorado, and we were now not far from Camp 
Yuma, a military station of the United States at the junc- 
tion of the two rivers. The bare, steep, and rocky hills of 
this pass are a kind of syenite, consisting of finely-grained 
dark-green amphibole, some mica, with quartz and felspar, 
partly white and partly rose-coloured, both minerals in 
separate masses included as in a porphyry. The rock appears 
rough, split and cracked, intersected in all directions with 
quartz veins of small dimensions. Different kinds of cactus 
grew upon it ; among them a delicate little opuntia, quite 
en miniature, and a beautiful small echinocactus, with 
straight white, and crooked black thorns. We proceeded 



Chap. VI. THE YUMA INDIANS. 527 

during the night as far as the junction of the two streams, 
where we encamped on the southern bank. The fort, 
Camp Yuma, was opposite to us. 

Soon after day-break the next morning we saw numbers 
of the Yuma Indians coming to visit us on horseback and 
on foot, over the hills, and swimming through the river. 
Men, women and children, a sprightly and sociable race ; 
the girls pretty and full of roguery, with long, loose hair, 
clothed with a single petticoat, consisting only of cords and 
tassels, and strips of soft dyed bark, but arranged with the 
coquetry of a corps de ballet. And indeed I could only 
compare it to a scene in a ballet, as these nymphs wandered 
about among our rough and bearded men. 

But these Indians, with all their sprightliness and 
sociability, can still not be trusted. They are excitable, 
passionate, and very jealous of their independence: they 
have already, several times, murdered the whites who have 
settled in this neighbourhood, when their numbers were 
small. The passionate temper of these people displayed 
itself, upon our asking some of the girls who frequented 
our camp, to collect the mezquite-beans for us, for a certain 
amount of payment, as we wished to take some waggon- 
loads of them with us on our journey through the Colorado 
desert. They brought us some, but demanded quite a 
disproportionate payment ; then appealed to our gallantry, 
and not finding their wishes gratified they became violently 
angry, and some of them threw what they had collected into 
the river. In conduct these girls were less exemplary than 
those of the Indian tribes we had met on the Gila ; but 
whether this arose from any original difference in cha- 
racter, or was to be attributed to the vicinity of the fort 
and its garrison, I cannot say. A town, Colorado City, 
is rising opposite to the fort, some houses being built and 



528 FERRY OVER THE COLORADO. Book III. 

others in the course of erection. It cannot fail to become of 
considerable importance ; for it must be the emporium of 
all the trade of the Gila and Colorado basins, including 
also the neighbouring oases of Sonora, and eventually of 
the great Salt Lake district, or at least of part of it. 
Already steamers ascend the Colorado as far as the fort, 
by which means the troops are supplied with necessaries. 
While we were there, a project was discussed for navigating 
it farther up with steamers, and it was asserted that this 
was possible for several hundred miles. I do not know 
the result, as, even in the United States, intelligence from 
these distant regions is of difficult and rare attainment. 

It was the Yumas who murdered the notorious Glanton 
when he monopolized the ferry over the Colorado, and 
levied a heavy contribution from all travellers. The 
passage over the river is dear enough now, or at least, was 
so at the time of our journey ; for we had to pay three 
hundred dollars for the passage of our caravan, though 
it occupied but three men for a day. And yet at this 
time there were two ferries, and consequently competi- 
tion : one close to the junction of the Gila, the other 
twelve English miles lower down, at a spot called Pilot 
Knob, where some houses also have been built. We chose 
the latter, where we crossed August 5th, and encamped on 
the north side of the river. 

Our intercourse with the Yumas continued here. As a 
characteristic circumstance I must relate that I sent a 
Yuma boy from hence with a letter to one of the officers 
at the fort, and that he brought me back an answer in less 
than three hours. He had thus accomplished in this time, 
twenty-four English miles ; but I had to pay him one 
dollar and a half for his service, — for less than that he 
would not move. He had run there, but had swum down 



Chap. VI. THE YUMAS. 529 

the stream in returning, having fastened the letter in 
answer, to keep it dry, in his thick hair. These Indians 
will undertake long journeys, swimming down stream, 
with the help of a piece of wood ; and I saw repeatedly 
whole troops of men, women, and children floating down 
the river, which is very rapid and has muddy reddish 
water. 



2 m 



530 THE COLORADO DESERT. Book III. 



CHAPTER VII. 

From the Colorado to Los Angeles — The Desert — Old Sea-shore — Discharge 
of Water from the Colorado into the Desert — Different Qualities of the 
Soil — Toads and Frogs in the Desert — The Little Lagoon — Dead Fish — 
Mountain Chains — Rain Water — The Stony Desert and the Gypsum 
Desert — Bones of destroyed Herds of Cattle — Mineralogical Ants — 
General Character of the Country from hence to Los Angeles — Extent of 
the North American Steppes — Region of Annual Grasses and Plants — 
Wild Cerealia — The original Cause of the Absence of Trees is of a 
Geological Nature — Yalleci to — A half-starved Man — San Felipe — 
Rocky Pass — Camphor Scent of the Plants — Warner's Rancho — Hot 
Sulphur Springs — Californian Indians — Large Herds of Cattle — Grass 
and Clover Seed as natural Fodder for Cattle — Santa Ana — One Meteoro- 
logical Region encroaching upon another — Colonel Williams's Rancho — 
An expensive Shepherd — We share the Flesh of thirty Pigs with the 
Vultures — Extensive use of Strychnine — Tertiary Group of Hills — 
Asphalt Springs — Los Angeles — Return to Civilization. 

The preparations for the continuation of our journey left 
me no time to visit Fort Yuma, or to make myself 
acquainted with the nature of the Colorado and the ^and 
around it. The notorious Colorado desert lay before us, 
extending northwards from the river to the foot of the Cali- 
fornian Mountains. Corresponding to this on the south, 
lies a similar waterless waste, through which the road passes 
to El Altar, by the so-called Tinaje Alta, a dreaded route 
upon which travellers every year die from want of water. 
It took us five days after we left the Colorado to reach 
the first Californian watering-place. There are a few 
scanty wells on this road, of natural origin, but improved 
by the hand of travellers. They contain, however, too little 
water for the necessities of so large a caravan as ours ; we 
therefore divided into three companies, which were to start 
at intervals of one day, and it fell to me to head the first 



Chap. VII. OLD SEA-SHOEE. 531 

party, consisting of seven waggons and about one hundred 
mules. 

On the 6th of August, at seven in the evening, we left 
the dusty shores of the Colorado, in a west and north- 
west direction towards the Sandhills, bordering the higher 
portion of the desert on the side of the valley. These Sand- 
hills form a kind of girdle before this higher portion, and 
denote, according to American geologists, an old sea-shore. 
A desert covered with dust lies below, the level of which 
is somewhat lower than that of the Colorado, and even 
than that of the Gulf of California. One of the channels 
of this river flows in a north-westerly direction into the 
desert, and ceases in some lagoons, which, in certain 
seasons, become dry by evaporation. A plain of hard 
argillaceous earth extends above, and, rising gradually 
to the Californian Mountains, passes into a stony desert, 
from which, descending through the first valley defile, an 
extensive formation of gypsum is reached. 

Along the road from the Colorado to the first Cali- 
fornian watering-place, therefore, a desert of dust, of 
sand, of clay, of stone, and of gypsum, are following 
each other. 

After the first night's journey we arrived, at sunrise the 
next morning, at the first watering-place, named Cook's 
Well. This well is a hole dug in the bed of a dry arm of 
the Colorado, lying about twenty feet lower than the 
general level of the ground hereabouts. I do not know 
whether it is the so-called New Eiver itself, or only a 
branch of it. The watering of our animals was a trouble- 
some operation : we were obliged to draw the water in 
buckets. It was soon exhausted, and we were obliged to 
wait some hours, until it had collected again. However, 
as we rested here the whole day, we were able to give 

2 m 2 



532 TOADS AND FKOGS. Book III. 

our animals twice to drink. Water rises in this well in 
a clayey bed of alluvial soil. In the evening we started 
again, and journeyed throughout the night. We now 
first came to the drift-sand hills, which mark the limit 
of the higher desert plateau. In the bright moonlight 
we crossed a tract of sandy downs, on which there was 
no sign of any road visible. After we had proceeded 
several miles, I perceived by the stars, that our caravan 
was unawares taking a circular route, and was actually 
journeying back in the direction of the Colorado. Not 
much ground, however, had been lost, and ere long we 
discovered again the traces of a beaten road. 

In this neighbourhood I perceived a smell of sul- 
phuretted hydrogen, which, I was informed, proceeded 
from a mud-volcano, lying at a considerable distance on 
the northern side of the Colorado, and the vapours of 
which were often carried by the wind far across the desert. 
By daybreak the next morning we arrived at the next 
watering-place, called Alamo Mocho : it is a much deeper 
well than the former one, and is prevented from falling in 
by boards. Together with the water we drew up innu- 
merable large toads and frogs. At this place we met the 
postman of San Diego, a young man of education, from 
Virginia, who, for 100 dollars a month, performs the 
journey weekly to and from San Diego and Camp Yuma. 
The well itself is below the edge of the higher region of the 
desert upon which the road runs. The edge is about fifty 
feet high, and exhibits various alluvial strata, one of which 
consists of a fine hard clay, its fracture shining with a kind 
of pearly lustre. This clay seems to correspond to the 
slippery mud occurring in the Colorado, as well as in the 
first brooks met with at the foot of the Californian moun- 
tains, and which is so soft that, on putting your hand into 



Chap. VII. THE LITTLE LAGOON. 533 

it you appear to feel nothing. Above and below this 
stratum of clay lie sand and loam. 

We contrived to divide our drove so that each animal 
was led down the height singly to drink. In spite of all 
our efforts to keep back the animals above, thirst made 
them so unruly, that one after another they tumbled over 
the edge of the declivity. When the first fell I thought it 
was irretrievably lost, but to my surprise they all arrived 
below safe and sound. 

We travelled on during the night on an excellent road, 
over a hard argillaceous soil, almost entirely barren, and only 
dotted here and there with some wretched stunted bushes. 
We arrived at the Little Lagoon by two o'clock the next 
morning — a stagnant sheet of water, which only appears 
periodically: at times it does not appear at all for ten 
years together, and then lasts for months, or even years. 
I have already spoken of its rise from the Rio Colorado. 
Not far distant is another temporary lake, called the Great 
Lagoon, which is at times united with the smaller one. 
The country around is a kind of oasis, bare of grass, but 
overgrown with a beautiful grove of algarobbia-trees, 
whose fruit yielded a plentiful repast for our animals. In 
the midst of the Little Lagoon stand mezquite-trees, which 
have died off in the water. Judging from their . size they 
must have attained a growth of full fifteen or twenty years, 
and this without being prevented by water ; consequently, 
at no distant period of time, the lagoon must have been 
continuously dry for that number of years. It must, how- 
ever, have been in existence before that period, as the soil 
contains a collection of the mud of centuries. Hound the 
water lay a circle of thousands of dead fishes ; the water, 
therefore, cannot long have receded from out of the river, 
the fishes having been killed by a gradual and partial 



534 MOUNTAIN CHAINS. Book III. 

drying up of the water. This had happened about two 
months before, at which time travellers had found some 
alive, but the whole neighbourhood was infected with the 
smell of the dead fish. The water was then undrinkable ; 
but it had now no longer any bad organic taste, and was 
only somewhat brackish : I drank of it without incon- 
venience. 

It appears to me that the alternate filling and drying 
up of these lagoons is only to be explained by supposing 
an alternate rising and falling of the ground ; the acci- 
dental overflowing of the river appears to be an insufficient 
explanation. 

We had now approached near to the Californian moun- 
tains : they rose in the west like a high wall, over which, 
when we raised our camp in the evening, hung black 
clouds. There is another steep, though not very lofty, 
mountain-chain in the north-east of the road. This is the 
north-western continuation of the rocky range of moun- 
tains which begins below Camp Yuma on the Colorado, 
and to which corresponds a similar chain running in a 
south-easterly direction on the other side of the river. 
The Colorado Desert is simply a bay running in between 
the eastern and western mountains, and forming the 
extreme north-west corner of the lowlands, which formerly 
belonged to the bed of the Californian Gulf. 

The Little Lagoon lies in the State of California, the 
frontier of which we now crossed. Towards evening we 
proceeded further, and pursued our way across an entirely 
barren, hard, and level plain of sandy clay, which was 
covered with little snail-houses like grains of rice. On this 
journey we had an opportunity of learning, by experience, 
that the Colorado Desert — of which it had been asserted 
to me that it never rained in it — is sometimes entirely 



Chap. VII. THE STONY DESERT. 535 

inundated by a torrent of rain. Towards midnight we 
reached a spot where the water stood several inches deep 
on the ground : the storm, which we had seen at a 
distance, had discharged itself here, and the sandy clay 
had prevented the waters sinking into the ground. We 
unyoked our animals, and let them drink. At day- 
break we passed Sackett's Wells, a spring lying at a 
short distance from the road : it would not itself have 
yielded water enough for our beasts, but, thanks to the 
timely fall of the rains, we had enough, and to spare for 
any travellers who might come after us. 

The ground of the desert begins here to be rocky, and 
takes at every step a wilder character — detached boulders, 
and fragments of stone of every kind, consisting of granite, 
syenite, feldspar, crystallized masses of quartz, petrified 
wood, jasper, mica shining like silver, common sedimen- 
tary and white saline limestone, numerous shells and 
other substances, lie scattered about. At length the road 
descended from the height which it had gradually attained, 
into a narrow ravine of gypsum. The desert, in its north- 
western part, forms a flat contrefort, from which the road 
descends instead of rising, towards the mountains. The 
wild scene is the more surprising, as the traveller might 
have expected the very reverse. From the flat plain the 
traveller is suddenly transported into a chaos of furrows, 
precipices, horizontal and slanting slabs, ridges, pyramids, 
and every kind of formation of the ground; and high, 
naked, rocky mountains rise behind them. The ravines 
are cut in yellow and green clay, in which are seen 
glittering everywhere slabs and fibrous masses of gypsum. 
The whole presents an aspect of indescribable sterility, 
though even in this region of death a few shrubs appear, 
such as a cactus, a few leafless bushes, especially an 



536 BONES OF DESTKOYED HEEDS. Book III. 

ephedra, and a few miniature annuals. The storm of 
the preceding day had filled a brook running through 
these ravines of gypsum, with copious water, by which 
we rested for a few hours. I do not know whether this 
brook is permanent or temporary, or whether or no it 
belongs to the Carrizo Creek. Throughout this whole 
region — from the edge of the desert plateau through the 
gypsum ravines, as far as Carrizo Creek — the ground is 
strewn with the bones and skeletons of thousands of sheep, 
cattle, mules, and horses. The reader may form an idea 
of this scene, from the fact, that of a single flock of sheep 
proceeding the year before from Northern Mexico to Cali- 
fornia, six thousand lay dead on this spot. Many of the 
dying animals appear to have crept in the pains of death 
into holes and corners among the wildest rocks. I found 
in these places numbers of skeletons wedged into almost 
inaccessible corners and narrow fissures. 

I have heard various opinions respecting the extraor- 
dinary mortality among animals driven from the Colorado 
across the desert, especially on the Carrizo Creek, — a 
watering-place against the dangers of which we were 
strongly cautioned. Some asserted the waters to be poi- 
sonous; others thought the circumstance of drinking too 
freely after a long thirst, offered sufficient explanation of 
the fatal effects ; while others attributed them to cer- 
tain plants growing in this neighbourhood, which are only 
eaten by animals when suffering extreme hunger. The 
plant pointed out to me as poisonous, was a small euphor- 
bia covered with a grey film, which might justify this 
supposition. Another opinion appeared quite natural, 
that on approaching the termination of the desert the 
strength of the animals, exerted to the utmost by toil, hun- 
ger, and thirst, should at last give way. Probably the truth 



Chap. VII. MINERALOGICAL ANTS. 537 

may be that these different causes combine to produce 
the result. 

The origin of the extensive gypsum formation in these 
parts, is in many places distinctly traceable to carbonate of 
lime. It is enclosed by limestone forming banks com- 
posed of large quantities of loose or slightly attached shells. 
I may here mention that I found a specimen of gypsum 
containing grains of gold in a collection of minerals at Los 
Angeles. The grains were rounded, and in all probability 
originally belonged to an alluvial deposit of detached frag- 
ments of carbonate of lime, which had been converted 
into gypsum by sulphuric acid. The gypsum with the 
alluvial gold may therefore be called a metamorphic 
alluvial formation. That with the alluvial gold was found 
on the Tejon Pass. 

Before continuing the account of our journey I must 
offer a remark here, connected with an observation I made 
in the desert. When traversing certain parts of the North 
American steppes and deserts I have frequently observed 
ant-hills, formed exclusively of small stones of the same 
mineral species, as for instance, small grains of quartz. In 
one part of the Colorado Desert the hills of these mineralo- 
gical ants consisted of heaps of small shining fragments of 
crystallized feldspar, chosen by these little animals from the 
various components of the coarse sand of these parts. The 
last time I was at El Paso, a North-American driver came 
to me and inquired the value of a small bag of garnets 
he possessed. On my asking in what place they had been 
found, I heard that these stones — imperfect crystals of red 
transparent garnets — were the material of which the ants 
build their hills in the country of the Navajo Indians, in 
New Mexico, and that he knew a place where any quantity 
of them might be collected. These remarks may perhaps 



538 VEGETATION OF THE STEPPE. Book III. 

not be uninteresting in connection with the question relating 
to the gold-seeking ants of Herodotus. 

The Carrizo Creek is a brook rising in the moun- 
tains, running eastward through the denies of the desert, 
and finally losing itself there. Here we entered on quite 
a different country. Our way led us over the barren, tree- 
less, steep, and rocky heights of the southern part of the 
Californian mountains, where springs, surrounded by grass 
and a few poplars, exist only at great distances in some 
valleys. They have no permanent watercourses, but in 
the rainy season wild torrents sweep through them. 

During our first day's journey, from Carrizo Creek to 
Vallecito, we saw once more the vegetation of the Steppe 
in all its peculiarities. The sterile heights were almost ex- 
clusively overgrown with agaves and cactus, — a flora which 
I have nowhere seen so characteristic as in this locality. < 
It is the species of agave called Mezcal by the Mexicans, 
and the sweet root of which is collected by the Indians, 
baked and laid up for store. But the nearer we approached 
the coast of the Pacific, travelling west, the more humid 
grew the air, and accompanying this change in the climate 
a striking change appears in the flora which clothes the 
mountains. The heights are covered with evergreen 
shrubs, but here my botanic knowledge was altogether at 
fault. Here and there some evergreen oaks stood in the 
valleys, whilst the highest summits and ridges were for 
the first time covered with gigantic pine trees (Taxo- 
diums), for which California is remarkable. The growth of 
trees, however, is even here an exception, and this con- 
tinued the character of the country down to the shores of 
the Pacific. It may be asserted therefore, that with trifling 
interruptions the Steppe, beginning on the Missouri, extends 
on the one side through the territory of the Bio Grande as 



Chap. YII. WILD CEEEALIA. 539 

far as the Gulf of Mexico, and on the other to the 
shores of the Pacific. The reader will have seen, from my 
description of the scenery, that the vegetation, apart from 
the general absence of trees, is of a greatly varied character. 
As we approached the slope of the continent toward 
the Pacific, the annual growth of grasses and herbs is 
an important feature in the vegetation ; but as soon as 
we cross the principal range of the Californian moun- 
tains — which seems to form a complete line of demarcation 
in reference to the meteorological character of the country 
— wild oats and wild clover cover hills and valleys almost 
exclusively for many hundred miles. The clover too — 
at least some species — is of annual growth, and its seed, 
which covers large extents of ground, forms for months 
almost the exclusive food of herds of cattle, which are 
numbered by thousands. The wild oats I saw in the 
south of California, and especially those on the hills behind 
Los Angeles, was as thick, as tall, and with as heavy ears 
as the finest cultivated oats in Europe. I found wild barley 
in the neighbourhood of "Warner's Rancho," far from 
the road or any human habitation, in a perfect wilderness. 
And lastly, I saw a sample of wild wheat at an agricultural 
exhibition at San Francisco, which was wonderfully fine ; 
but I could learn nothing more than that it came from the 
Sierra Nevada. I am thus tempted to call the climate of 
these parts, from the Gila, where the annual grasses begin, 
a normal .climate for cereals, exclusive of maize, for which 
California appears to be less adapted ; barley takes its 
place here, at least as fodder for horses and mules. 

The absence of trees in a large part of the North Ame- 
rican continent is an interesting point for inquiry to the 
botanist, climatologist and geologist. Throughout Cali- 
fornia the opinion prevails, that no trees can be grown in 



540 ABSENCE OF TREES. Book III. 

those places where none are now growing. There exists, 
however, positive proof to refute such an opinion. In 
the farthest settlements of the prairies on the Missouri I 
have seen planted Robinise grow as vigorously as in any 
spot in the United States. No trees grew formerly in the 
place on the Texan coast where the town of Galveston 
now stands, and yet at the present time there is no scarcity 
of them in the streets and the gardens of the town (mostly 
Ailanthus), all exhibiting a healthy and vigorous growth. 
The elevation above the sea has nothing to do with the cause 
of this phenomenon as considered under a general point of 
view, since the treeless regions extend from the sea-coast 
on the one side, across the highest summits of the table-lands 
of the central countries down to the sea-coast on the other 
side. The few exceptions from this general character of the 
vegetation are seen at the bottom of valleys, cut into the 
plateau, and upon the highest summit of the mountains 
rising above them. From this fact the conclusion might 
be drawn, that deficiency of moisture is one of the many 
causes that produce the phenomenon, although it cannot be 
the chief cause, for the prairies of lower Texas are as 
little deficient in moisture as the Californian coast. With- 
out entering further into this subject, I wish merely to 
offer here an opinion, suggested by my personal observation, 
that the main cause of the deficiency of trees must be 
looked for in the geological history of these regions, viz., 
in the nature of those circumstances which have clothed 
these regions with any vegetation, and of those which later 
on befel them. I have no doubt that in the course of 
time a great part of the present treeless regions of the con- 
tinent will be clothed with trees. 

Vallecito is a small green oasis, surrounded on all sides 
by barren mountains. The vegetation of the valleys con- 



Chap. VII. SAN FELIPE. 541 

sists partly of grass, partly of mimbre and other bushes of 
the Rio Grande districts reappearing in this region. Here 
we saw the first Californian settlement, a single house, which 
was, of course, a shop : provisions, ready-made clothes, 
and other requirements for passing travellers were sold at 
incredibly high prices. The stock of our provisions was 
unfortunately so low, that I was obliged to make large 
and dear purchases for the part of our caravan entrusted 
to me. I conversed here with a sick man, who, a few 
weeks before, having lost his way in the desert of the Co- 
lorado, had been plundered by some Yuma Indians of all 
he possessed, and had passed several days, naked and with- 
out food, until he met some travellers, who took care of 
him. He was very weak, and had a sore, nearly three 
inches across and half an inch deep, in his back. 

Our road now led us through a succession of settle- 
ments. First came San Felipe, a group of houses or huts, 
inhabited by civilized Indians. The road from Vallecito 
to this place passes tbrough a defile, with the worst road 
on the whole extent from the Guadalupe Pass down to 
Lower California. In several places the cleft was so nar- 
row that the wheels grazed the rocks on either side. The 
flora of this wild mountain spot was very peculiar : a 
small agave, with yellow flowers and a sweet smell, a deli- 
cate opuntia, a juniper with red berries, and various 
labiatse, with a strong scent of camphor, attracted my no- 
tice. This scent in some places quite filled the air. I had 
before remarked on the Gila various herbs with a strong 
smell of camphor. 

We spent the night in the valley, our animals finding the 
necessary food, and the following morning, over a pass, 
— called Warner's Pass by the North Americans, and 
Puerto de San Felipe by the Mexicans, — we reached 



542 WARNER'S RANCHO. - Book III. 

Warner's Rancho, a locality known by the name of Agua 
Caliente to the old Californians. The road over this pass 
is not difficult, and on the summit we had an interesting 
view of mountain scenery. Oaks and plantains grow on 
the elevation, the neighbouring declivities are clothed with 
evergreen shrubs of various species, and the distant peaks 
are crowned with a forest of tall pines. Warner's Rancho is 
a piece of land several square miles in extent, claimed by a 
Mr. Warner, but which was one of the many disputed land- 
claims at that time in the State. It is the most beautiful 
and valuable spot in the whole mountain district, through 
which our road led. Well watered by numerous springs, 
provided with excellent grass and all the natural conditions 
for agriculture and the industry of man, this locality 
could maintain a considerable town and several villages : a 
German colony, intending to settle in California, could 
scarcely select a more advantageous spot. The hills and 
mountains are overgrown with underwood, intermingled 
with scattered oaks, in part with regular woods, presenting 
numerous sites of peculiar beauty. The climate is salu- 
brious : the heat of the Colorada region does not exist 
here; copious rains fall during the winter, while snow 
covers the mountains. During the summer, vegetation is 
sustained by heavy dews, such as fell every night, much 
to our inconvenience : they constitute one of the charac- 
teristic features of the climate of the country from here to 
the coast; and every morning, during my journey to 
Los Angeles, I found my blanket, my hair, and beard 
covered with heavy dewdrops. I can assure timid people, 
who are afraid of exposing themselves to the night-air, that 
it does not kill, even when it covers us, in our sleep, with 
dewdrops, as it covers the leaves and blossoms of the 
fields. 



Chap. VII. AGUA CALIENTE. 543 

Several habitations have been erected on the territory- of 
Warner's Rancho since the arrival of the North Ameri- 
cans ; but the old place, Agua Caliente, a group of houses 
built in the Mexican style, lies about two miles distant from 
the road, near a hot sulphur spring, which forms a brook 
running through the neighbourhood. One has to go some 
distance from the source to find a temperature which per- 
mits to take a bath. I rode over, in order to see the place, 
the spring, and neighbouring country ; but, when I arrived 
at the brook, I found great difficulty in inducing my 
horse to cross it. Every time it came near the water, 
felt the high temperature and was inhaling the smell of the 
sulphuretted hydrogen, it turned round. Gradually, how- 
ever, it became accustomed to this smell ; but, before 
entering the water, it carefully touched it with his foot to 
convince itself of the temperature. I found the buildings 
of this place inhabited exclusively by Indians, who, when 
I asked them for their name, called themselves the Aguas 
Calientes. This name being only taken from the locality, 
I questioned the chieftain further as to the original Indian 
name of the tribe as well as the neighbouring tribes. I 
found it, however, very difficult to attain my purpose. At 
last he said, as if he suddenly understood what I meant 
— " Ah, you wish to know our heathen names " (los 
nombres de gentiles), and upon my answering in the 
affirmative, he gave me a list of the names of all the 
Indian tribes in California in genuine Indian words, so 
difficult to catch that I made him repeat them several 
times before I could write them down. This list I have 
unfortunately lost, together with some other interesting 
notes. The chieftain showed me the certificates of some 
American officers, of his being a man of good character, 
who had in no way participated in the great revolt of the 



544 INDIAN GIKLS. Book III. 

Indians that broke out in this part of the country soon 
after the North Americans had conquered California. No- 
thing less had at that time been intended than an extermi- 
nation of all North Americans. Some Mexicans and a 
North American desperado — using the Indians as tools for 
other purposes — had helped giving the impulse. The re- 
volt was soon suppressed, and the ringleaders were taken 
prisoners and hanged at San Diego. The Indians at Agua 
Caliente, who had played a chief part in this affair, seemed 
to have retained a deep impression of its issue ; for several 
persons, with whom I spoke, referred again and again to 
the subject, and at every opportunity took care to express 
their disapproval of this revolt on the part of their 
brethren. 

I engaged two Indian girls, whom I met at the hot 
springs, to wash a bundle of linen for me, and the next day 
I rode back to Agua Caliente to fetch it ; but in vain I 
sought for the two girls, and at last heard that they lived 
a long way off in the mountains. I had no alternative but 
to go in search of them. This business led me to one 
of the most romantic spots I have ever seen. Small 
enclosed vineyards and fields of maize were interspersed 
among wild rocks of granite, covered with groups of 
evergreen oaks. I found the girls with their parents, who 
received me most hospitably ; entertained me with green 
ears of maize, roasted, and with baked roots of mezcal. I 
conversed with the old man on the change in their position 
from the transfer of their country to the North Americans. 
He was satisfied with the change, and observed that it was 
a good thing they were no longer obliged to work for any- 
one. He regretted one result of the change — that they 
were not allowed to drink spirits. The girls wore dresses 
of good cotton print, elegantly made in the Mexican 



Chap. VII. PUEKTO DE AHUANCA. 545 

fashion. They let their long hair hang down, and had 
wound round their foreheads a yellow China silk handker- 
chief. The men were naked, with the exception of a cloth 
fastened round their thighs. 

Warner's Kancho was the place where the three divisions 
of our caravan were to assemble again. On the third day 
after our arrival the last division came up, and, to our 
great joy, not a single animal was missing, nor had any 
misfortune befallen us during that dreaded march. An ox 
was purchased and killed, and the whole party joyfully 
celebrated the termination of our toils and privations in the 
long journey across the steppes and deserts of the con- 
tinent. 

We had not yet, however, entered the pale of civili- 
zation, and had still several mountain passes to cross before 
arriving on the plain of Los Angeles. The first of these 
passes was called the Puerto de Ahuanca, after a small 
Indian village. On its western side we found ourselves 
between two parallel mountain-chains, on a small plain on 
which was a salt-water lake. At this advanced season 
there was not a green blade of grass to be seen far and 
wide, and our animals fed on the grass and clover seed 
which lay an inch deep on the ground. The mountain- 
chain farther west, through which our road now lay, was 
rather high and steep 5 and the part we traversed consisted 
of greenstone porphyry passing over into a dioritic slate. 
Vegetation here must be very luxuriant in the spring. On 
every side withered tendrils of passifloras, and a pretty 
climbing asclepias, still in blossom, entwined themselves 
among the bushes. After crossing a mountain-chain still 
farther west, we at length reached the Rio de Santa Ana, 
where we saw the plains covered with cattle. This ground 
is part of the Hacienda de Santa Ana, the property of an 

2 N 



546 



COLONEL WILLIAMS'S EANCHO. 



Book III. 



ancient Californian family, whose estates here number 
20,000 head of cattle. 1 

Owing to a sudden rise of the river, occasioned by the 
heavy rains during' the last few days, we were obliged to 
remain here nearly two days, and await the subsidence 
of the waters before we could cross over. Such rains at 
that time of the year were an unusual occurrence, and such 
as had not happened within the memory of man. 

The winter is the rainy season in California, but in the 
Colorado districts, on the other side of the mountains, it is 
the summer ; and the hard rains we encountered here, on 
the Santa Ana Eiver, were an exceptional transgression of 
the eastern climate upon the western side of the mountain- 
chain. The influence of such irregularities is very unfa- 
vourable to vegetation, causing the seeds of the annuals- 
clover, grasses, and oats — to germinate prematurely, and 
infallibly perish. A few such rains, therefore, may cause 
the destruction of thousands of cattle, no artificial means 
for feeding the cattle existing here. 

The hills and plains in this country, over which our 
route passed, were actually covered with immense herds. 
Leaving the property of the Yorbas family, we came to 
the estate of Colonel Williams, which has the name of 
Santa Ana del Chino, and on which are 10,000 cows. We 
encamped near the dwelling of the Colonel, who is well 
known for his kindness, to travellers. The distance hence 
to Los Angeles, to which place Mr. K. journeyed on 
before, to endeavour to dispose there at once of his waggons 
and mules, was thirty miles. Many of our drivers — in 



1 I learn from the Californian news- 
papers that a German colony has re- 
cently settled on the territory of the 
Hacienda de Santa Ana, the members 



of which turn thefr attention to the 
cultivation of the vine. A more favour- 
able situation cannot be imagined. 



Chap. VII. AN EXPENSIVE SHEPHERD. 547 

fact all the North Americans — who had either hired 
themselves in order to travel to California free of expense, 
or who, on our arrival in the gold country, demanded too 
high wages, were dismissed. The Mexican muleteers 
were sent with the herds to the hills for pasture, and I, 
with a few others, remained to guard the camp until further 
arrangements were concluded. Four or five days passed 
thus, which I partly spent with the Colonel, a native of 
the United States, who had been married to a daughter of 
one of the oldest and most prominent Mexican families in 
California, and was a resident in the country long before 
its annexation. We had much conversation on the past 
and present condition of the country. His estates cover 
eight square leagues — about seventy English square miles 
— in one of the most beautiful plains in the State of Califor- 
nia. Lofty mountains rise all around ; some, as the Cerro 
de San Antonio, so high that they are covered with snow 
the greater part of the year. The Colonel settled here in 
1840; and, before this country was transferred to the 
United States, and the Mexican peon-law abolished, he 
had had 1200 Indian peons in his service. But since 
that change took place, and the Indians acquired free- 
dom to go where they please, they have retired to the 
neighbouring mountains, and it is difficult to get any of 
them to work, even for wages. The labour of free whites 
is paid exceedingly high ; for instance, the Colonel has to 
pay a shepherd five dollars a-day — a rate of wages which, 
with roast-lamb gratis to boot, will appear rather high to a 
European landowner. But, apart from these obstacles, 
the estate had suffered greatly in the Californian war : the 
buildings were dilapidated, and 10,000 vines, with 4000 
fruit-trees, had been destroyed. By the robberies of the 
Tulare Indians the estate had since lost horses to the value 

2 N 2 



548 EXTENSIVE USE OF STRYCHNINE. Book III. 

of about 13,000 dollars. Scarcely anything was left of the 
13,000 acres of cultivated land, and the orchards and 
vineyards. The Colonel's possessions now consist only of 
his land, with 10,000 head of cattle, and a few thousand 
sheep feeding on it. The breeding of sheep of the better 
breeds has been recently introduced, and promises great 
results in every way. The Colonel regards pigs as noxious 
animals : he sent me word one day to our camp that he 
had killed thirty pigs, and, if we liked pork, we were wel- 
come to help ourselves — the rest would feed the vultures. 

One day I rode to the hills, on which our mules were 
grazing. A pasture like this is indeed known in scarcely 
any other part of the world : our animals were knee-deep 
in wild oats, fields of which stretched over hill and valley. 
The season was unfavourable, as there was now only the 
stubble standing : the seed, however, covered the ground 
among the stubble, and the mules fed on this. In this ride 
I also passed through a part of the cattle belonging to 
the estate, which covered the hills for miles. In these 
herds, many are killed by the wild beasts — wolves, bears, 
and cuguars. The proprietors use great quantities of 
strychnine to destroy these, the effect of which I wit- 
nessed. As I was riding out one day, I met one of the 
people of the estate throwing about poisoned meat ; and, 
on my return a few hours later, there already lay a dead 
wolf in the road. In the same manner the Colonel has 
tried to destroy the earth-squirrels, which, together with 
owls and rattlesnakes, live in holes in the ground, and are 
here the greatest enemies to the farmer. The Colonel 
strews corn, poisoned with strychnine, before the holes of 
these little animals. 

The hills of which I have spoken form a tertiary group 
in the space between the high plutonic mountain-chains, 



Chap. VII. LOS ANGELES. 549 

and they stretch thence to the coast below Los Angeles. 
They consist of bituminous sandstone, limestone, marl, and 
clay, and are remarkable for the numerous asphalt springs 
found in them. I inspected some of the latter, and was 
particularly struck at finding several of them on the ridge 
of a hill, so that they flow down on both sides. The asphalt 
oozes slowly out of the ground in a thick mass, with a little 
water. In its course it quickly stiffens, rising like a thick- 
setting porridge. The inhabitants of this part use this 
production in various ways. Mr. Williams uses it as fuel ; 
and throughout this part of California flat roofs are covered 
with it, to render them impervious to water. 

On the 6th of September Mr. K. returned to the camp 
from Los Angeles, with a purchaser for his waggons and 
mules. The latter were inspected, and the bargain con- 
cluded. We drove to the town in an elegant carriage, 
with a pair of spirited horses, and thus terminated my 
travels over the wilderness of North America. At Los 
Angeles, Mr. Francis Melius, a wealthy and influential 
man, and a member of the Legislature of the State of 
California, offered me the hospitality of his house. I slept 
on a gilded bedstead with silk curtains, and under a silk 
counterpane. The furniture of the splendid saloon I occu- 
pied consisted of Chinese works of art, with costly carving ; 
and for a time I was surrounded with all the luxury of 
civilized society. Such contrasts are only to be found in 
America. 



550 PHYSICAL GEOGEAPHY OF Book III. 



CHAPTEE VIII. 

Physical Geography of the North American Continent — Eetrospect of its 
Orologic Kelations — Southern Termination of the Kocky Mountains on the 
Upper Kio Grande — Their Southern Equivalents — Sierra Madre — Fre- 
quency of the name — The Great Sierra Madre of Cinaloa and Sonora — 
Its Northern Equivalent in the Californian Mountain-system — Interior 
longitudinal Basin of the "Western Half of the Continent — Depression of 
the Plateau between the middle Rio Grande and the middle Gila. 

Before I offer to my readers my observations and ex- 
perience during my residence in California, this will be the 
proper place to take a retrospect of a few of the great 
physico-geographical relations of the North American 
continent, respecting which I have been led to differ in 
some points from the prevalent opinions. In this I refer to 
the general arrangement of the mountains from the system 
of the Rocky Mountains west to the shores of the Pacific. 
I published a little treatise on the subject in a San Fran- 
cisco journal during my residence at that place, which 
has been reprinted in the annual scientific report of the 
Smithsonian Institute. A meritorious American geologist 
has since propounded opinions on the orology of America 
which differ from those I have expressed. This led me to 
reconsider the subject, but I still think I am correct in the 
following remarks. 

It is well known, that the erroneous idea that mountain- 
chains must necessarily be watersheds, and watersheds 
must be mountain-chains, has long prevailed among 
geographers, and especially map-makers, from their im- 
perfect actual knowledge of the earth's surface. Accurate 
topographical surveys, however, have not only corrected 



Chap. VIII. THE NORTH AMERICAN CONTINENT. 551 

such mistakes on the map of Europe, but have rectified 
the theories of geographers. Yet in their manner of 
representing other parts of the world, into which hypotheti- 
cal opinions must still enter largely, the effects of erroneous 
theories are not wholly removed ; and this, among others, is 
the case with North America, to the orological system of 
which country I here allude. Here a connexion of the 
great system of the Eocky Mountains with that of the 
Sierra Madre of the Western Mexico is still credited, to 
have the eastern and western slopes of the continent 
separated by a great mountain-chain coinciding with the 
watershed. But the actual nature of things contradicts 
this opinion. 

It would be far more correct to speak of a general con- 
nexion between all the mountain-chains and table-lands 
which occupy the whole western side of the New World, 
from Tierra del Fuego to the North Arctic Ocean. Con- 
ceived as a great system and contrasted with the extensive 
lowlands to the east of it, the western portion of the 
continent really forms a natural division, with subdivisions 
which, of course, are in some connexion with each other. 
But this fact is quite irrelevant to the question whether 
two secondary links in this system — the Bocky Mountains 
and the Sierra Madre — have any direct connexion, or 
whether, on correct principles, they can be regarded as 
orological equivalents in the construction of the whole. 
I shall endeavour to show that this is not the case. 

I. — The great chain of the Bocky Mountains is divided, 
near the sources of the Bio Grande, into two ranges, one 
of which follows the western, the other the eastern side of 
the river ; the latter as far as the latitude of Santa Fe. 

The reader who has followed me in my journey from 
Missouri to New Mexico, may perhaps remember that 



552 SOUTHEEN TERMINATION OF Book III. 

the road down into the valley of the Eio Grande leads, 
on almost level ground, through a narrow passage in 
the rocks. Supposing that the sandstone ridge through 
which this pass runs is to be considered a part of the 
Rocky Mountains, this ridge will in that case lie on the 
eastern side not only of the Rio Grande but of the Rio 
Pecos, its southern continuation terminating in the plateau 
of Western Texas. But between the Upper Pecos and 
the Rio Grande, the Santa Fe road is bounded on its 
north side by high Alpine mountains, covered with snow 
during the greater part of the year. Southwards continues 
a range of isolated mountain groups, to which belong the 
Placer, Sandilla, and Manzana mountains. The road runs 
round the extreme southern promontories of the higher 
chain over table-lands six to seven thousand feet above 
the level of the sea, which terminate abruptly towards the 
valley of the Rio Grande, and the declivities and detached 
portions of which present here a system of mountains 
quite of a different geological character to that of the 
isolated groups rising above the edge of the plateau, — the 
rocks of which are of a plutonic and metamorphic nature. 
Regarding these mountain groups and table-lands as the 
southern continuation of the Rocky Mountains, these are 
also on the eastern side of the Rio Grande, and likewise 
terminate in the Texan plateau. In one point of view, it 
is correct to recognize in these mountains really a conti- 
nuation of the Rocky Mountains ; but it must be clearly 
understood that it agrees better with the general orological 
system of this country to connect them with that range 
which commences on the western side of the Upper Rio 
Grande, and the subordinate branches of which succes- 
sively cross the river in the space between Santa Fe' and 
the bend of the river near Santa Barbara. 



Chap. VIII. THE EOCKY MOUNTAINS. 553 

II. — Whoever has travelled from El Paso down the 
Gila to California is aware that the old road, known by 
the name of Cook's Route, in the great southern bend, 
leading to Santa Cruz, crosses several heights, all of which 
might be avoided, were the traveller not dependent on 
the few watering-places in these regions. The road would 
run round the heights near the Rio Grande, if it kept more 
to the south ; and round those farther west between the 
Guadalupe Pass and the valley of Santa Cruz, if it kept 
more to the north. In the first case, it would pass round 
the last spurs of a mountain-system lying farther north ; 
in the latter case, it would avoid the extreme promontories 
of the chains situated farther south. But even the former 
of these two systems, that farther to the north, including 
the Coppermine Mountains and the Sierra Blanca, with 
their secondary groups — independently of the fact that, 
between it and the mountains of the Guadalupe Pass, a broad 
depression of the table-land exists — cannot well be regarded 
as belonging to the Rocky Mountains. It forms a group 
separated from the last chains of that system by another 
depression occupying the space between the Little Colorado 
and the Rio Grande, and containing the sources of the 
Gila. JSTor would it affect the principal question if we should 
find reasons for supposing the mountains near Socorro, 
which rise in picturesque forms on the west side of the 
Rio Grande, to belong to the system of the Rocky Moun- 
tains, as the heights which extend between Valverde and 
Santa Barbara on that side find their continuation east 
of the river, forming that series of narrows which oblige 
the traveller to leave the valley, and pass through the ill- 
reputed Jornada del Muerto, or Dead Man's Journey, in 
which, in the dry season, not a drop of water is met with 
for ninety miles. 



554 SOUTHERN TERMINATION OF ROCKY MOUNTAINS. Book III. 

III. — A mountain -chain, called the Sierra de los Nim- 
bres, has been laid down as the connecting link between 
the Eocky Mountains and the Sierra Madre ; but the travel- 
ler in vain seeks it at the designated spot. I have before 
spoken of this circumstance in relating my travels through 
that territory, and stated that the Rio de los Nimbres, which 
has its rise in the southern spurs of the Coppermine Moun- 
tains, flows in the rainy season over extensive plains as far 
as the Laguna de Santa Maria. There is, consequently, 
on the eastern side of this small river no space for any 
link of connexion between the Eocky Mountains and the 
Sierra Madre ; whilst, on the western side, if it existed, 
Leroux's Eoute must pass over it. I do not know this 
route from personal experience, but I have been assured 
by all those of my acquaintance who have travelled on it, 
that they passed over no mountain-chain, nor any consider- 
able height. 

IV. — Having thus shown that the Eocky Mountains, as 
a connected range, extend, on the western side of the Eio 
Grande, no further south than the narrow valleys below 
Yalverde, I will now trace the detached groups and chains 
of mountains, which form, on the eastern side of the 
river, the southern continuation, or at least the southern 
equivalent, of this system. The traveller journeying from 
San Antonio, in Texas, to El Paso, or the Presidio del 
Norte, must cross mountains which, west of the Pecos, 
mark a step of the ground over which the highest region 
of the plateau of western Texas is reached. The route 
across this range of mountains to El Paso leads over the 
Puerto de las Limpias, or " Wild Eose Pass ;" and that 
to the Presidio del Norte, over the Puerto del Paisano. 
I have before described these interesting defiles and their 
picturesque scenery, and I have observed that the moun- 



Chap. VIII. SIERRA MADRE. 555 

tain-chains of the Sierra de Guadalupe and Sierra del 
Diablo belong to the same chain. South of the Presidio 
del Norte, in the vicinity of San Carlos, the latter meets 
again the Rio Grande, and crosses it from its eastern 
to its western -side, the river making here a great bend to 
the east in a long and narrow defile, with a series of falls. 
This is the point at which the Rio Grande descends from 
the middle section of its course which still belongs to the 
table-land, into the lower plains of the Mexican Gulf. 
This range, however, forming the eastern boundary of the 
Bolson de Mapimi, extends farther south, through the 
Mexican States of Cohahuila, Nuevo Leon, San Luis 
Potosi, and Vera Cruz, where it forms the eastern edge of 
the plateau of Anahuac. 

Y. — I pass on to the Sierra Madre — a name which has 
led to many geographical errors. The appellation is, 
strictly speaking, no proper name, but signifies in general 
the principal mountain-range of a country — literally, the 
" Mother-mountain," just as the Mexicans call the prin- 
cipal canal in a system of irrigation the Acequia Madre, 
or " Mother-canal." The name is thus found in various 
places, and the geographer would be in error to infer 
that the different chains of the same name belonged to one 
and the same system. If there exists a mountain-chain 
under the name of Sierra Madre, belonging to the above- 
described range of the southern continuation or southern 
equivalent of the Rocky Mountains, as laid down on the 
maps to the east of Durango, this is quite independent of 
the great Sierra Madre, which marks the western border 
of the Mexican plateau towards the lower country of 
Mechoacan, Jalisco, Cinaloa, and Sonora, and across which, 
to the west of Durango, passes the road from this town to 
Mazatlan. A third Sierra Madre is mentioned in New 



556 SIERRA MADRE. Book III. 

Mexico on the western side of the Rio Grande, and the 
Mexican Californians give the same name to that chain of 
mountains which extends north of the plain of Los Angeles, 
from the Cerro de San Bernardino as far as the coast of the 
Pacific, and whose highest summit is the Cerro de San 
Antonio. 

With respect, however, to the great Sierra Madre, the 
western border of the Mexican plateau, — of which alone I 
am here speaking, — its structure possesses a peculiarity, 
which, although it cannot be called a rare orographic phe- 
nomenon, least of all in mountains extending along the 
edge of a plateau, yet has caused frequent errors in maps. 
Almost all the more important rivers which fall into the 
Californian Gulf take their rise on the high plains of the 
inner plateau, consequently upon the eastern side of the 
Sierra Madre. They force their way through the border- 
mountains in narrow fissures or gullies, and enter the coast- 
land at their lower western foot. I have already enlarged 
upon this fact with reference to the Rio de Papigochic, one 
of the two sources of the Rio Yaqui, when describing in a 
previous chapter my journey from Chihuahua to the Sierra 
Madre. The river flows for about sixty miles along the 
eastern foot of the mountain-chain, until it suddenly makes 
a right angle, rushes into a deep gully, and along this 
forces its way through the border-mountains. The road 
from Chihuahua to the rich mining-town of Batosegachic 
leads through a similar cross fissure, along one of the 
sources of the Rio del Fuerte. Geographers do not seem 
to know that the western border-mountains of the Mexican 
plateau do not form the watershed, but lie before the latter 
to the west, and, from attachment to an exploded theory, 
they have placed it further to the east ; thus bringing it 
nearer to the most western part of the Rocky Mountains 



Chap. VIII. SIERRA MADRE OF CINALOA AXD SONORA. 557 

than it is in reality, and the hypothesis of a connexion has 
gained in probability and confirmed the error. 

VI. — The last north-western spurs of the Sierra-Madre 
system are crossed by Cook's Eoad, south of the river 
Gila, in the tract between the Guadalupe Pass and Fort 
Yuma. Near this fort, and consequently near the con- 
fluence of the Gila and Colorado, the chain of mountains 
which extends along the coast of Sonora and Cinaloa, and 
forms the western foot of the Sierra Madre system, a sys- 
tem consisting throughout of parallel chains, has its north- 
western termination : but on the other side of the Gila and 
Colorado it is continued by a mountain range, which the 
traveller has on his right at some distance on his road 
through the desert. In a pointed angle it advances 
toward the chain extending from the peninsula of Cali- 
fornia, until they unite. Persons who have visited this 
part of the country inform me, that the peak of San 
Bernardino is the central point of their junction. The 
extreme north-western continuation of the Sierra Madre 
system thus unites with the mountain range which C ali- 
form an geologists call the San Bernardino range, but 
which was known to the old Mexican Californians. as I 
have before said, under the same name of the Sierra 
Madre. If therefore the Sierra Madre of Cinaloa and 
Sonora has a northern equivalent, we must look for it not 
in the Rocky Mountains, but in the Califomian system. 
The real character of the orographic structure of this 
region, however, only becomes clear when we consider it 
as belonging to the general configuration of the western 
half of the continent. 

VII. — The centre of this western half, following the 
direction of the coast of the Pacific, from the isthmus of 
Tehuantepec to the Arctic Ocean, is occupied throughout 



5oS CALIFOENIAN MOUNTIAN SYSTEM. Book III. 

its length by a space, which is enclosed by a partly con- 
nected partly interrupted system of mountains in the east, 
and by a similar one in the west. 

The greater part of the surface of this space has an ele- 
vation above the level of the sea, which bears the character 
of a table-land, — that is, the two mountain systems form 
the eastern and western border of it, separate it from an 
eastern and western lateral terrace, and. single unconnected 
chains and groups rise scattered upon the inner space itself. 
It is these latter which may confuse the geographer with 
respect to the main character of the orographic structure of 
this part of the world, since they form what may seem to be 
links of connexion between the western and eastern border 
mountains. In California and Oregon, Utah and New 
Mexico, and in the countries farther north, the two 
border-chains are marked pretty distinctly by nature. We 
have here the Eocky Mountains to the east, the Sierra 
Nevada, the Cascade Mountains, and their more northern 
continuations to the west. In Mexico the western border 
consists of the Sierra Madre, and is likewise remarkably 
defined by nature, but the eastern one is greatly broken, 
and consists of that line of detached and irregular groups 
and mountain ranges, which the Rio Grande crosses in the 
defiles and falls of San Carlos. Here the great connexion 
of the component parts can easily be missed. Nevertheless 
I repeat, that if the Eocky Mountains have a southern 
equivalent, it must be looked for in the mountains of West 
Texas, Cohahuila, Nuevo Leon, San Luis Potosi, and 
Vera Cruz ; and if the Sierra Madre has a northern equiva- 
lent, this must be found in the Sierra Nevada, the Cascade 
Mountains, and its northern continuations : because the first 
line forms the eastern, the second the western border of 
the large inner longitudinal basin of the western half of the 
continent. 



Chap. VIII. DEPRESSION OF THE PLATEAU. 559 

VIII. — Although this great longitudinal basin may be 
called a plateau or table-land, from its predominating 
elevation above the level of the sea, yet there are 
considerable variations in its height, and three large 
declivities — not to mention similar smaller outlets — open 
through its borders, and form transitions from its inner 
and more elevated to the outer and lower land : the slope 
of the Rio Grande, that of the Colorado and Gila, and 
that of the Columbia. 

Between the central part of the Rio Grande valley and 
the central part of the Gila valley, the plateau is less high 
than to the north and south of this line. The Laguna de 
Guzman, as Mr. Schuchart, the companion of Colonel 
Gray, communicated to me, lies even lower than the 
surface of the Rio Grande, near El Paso. The Laguna 
de Santa Maria has the same level. Into this latter lake, 
as I have already mentioned, the Rio Mimbres pours 
its waters coming from the north, whilst from the south 
the Rio de Santa Maria, flowing down the central pla- 
teau of Chihuahua with a rapid fall, empties itself into 
the same lake. A line drawn from these two lakes 
toward the Dry Lagoon on Cook's Road, which I have 
before described, forms a north-western continuation of 
this depression of the table-land ; and from this latter point 
the central part of the Gila can be reached without having 
to cross any considerable height. 

From the mouth of the Rio Grande, therefore, up this 
river, crossing from its central course over to the central 
Gila, and down this river as far as the mouth of the 
Colorado, we can follow a depression of the continent from 
one ocean to the other; which depression, quite apart from 
the above explained general relations, separates the system 
of the Rocky Mountains, together with the whole of the 



560 PHYSICAL GEOGEAPHY. Book III. 

Coppermine Mountains, the group at the source of the 
Gila and the Sierra Blanca, from the system of the great 
Sierra Madre in the most defined manner. 

IX. — From the above it is evident that, to connect the 
Rocky Mountains with the Great Sierra Madre is a com- 
plete misconception of the orographic basis of the whole 
physical geography of the North American Continent. 
This erroneous conception makes the western border of 
the southern half a continuation of the eastern border of 
the northern half of the great longitudinal basin on the 
western side of the continent. In this manner the ana- 
logous elements of its physical geography are separated, 
heterogeneous ones are brought together, and the great 
foundations of climatology are put into confusion as well 
as those of the distribution of vegetable and animal life. 



Chap. IX. VIEW OF LOS ANGELES. ' 561 



CHAPTEE IX. 

Los Angeles and the South of California — Situation of the Town and Climate — 
Orchards and Vineyards — Exportation of Fruit and Grapes — Production 
of Wine — Other Resources of the Country — No Gold Mines in this Part 
of the State — Indians and Mexicans — Criminals and Desperadoes from 
the North withdrawing hither — Murders — Departure for San Francisco 

— Mist on the Coast — Monterey — Aspect of the Country — A Whale 

— Fisheries of Monterey — The Golden Gate and Bay of San Francisco — 
Situation of the Town. 

Los Angeles, or, with its Spanish name complete, Pue- 
blo de los Angeles, "the abode of the angels," is justly 
celebrated for the beauty of its situation. I should not 
desire a more beautiful residence for myself and my best 
friends than such a one as educated and intelligent 
people might form on this spot. Nature holds here that 
just balance in its products and phenomena — the happy 
medium between poverty and excess — which has entered 
so largely into the conditions of that glorious civilization 
which the early history of our race has developed in the 
classical countries of the Old World ; and, indeed, for 
points of comparison with Los Angeles and other parts 
in Southern California, we must turn our view to the 
Levant : nothing of a similar character is to be found in 
the rest of the United States. 

The most beautiful view of Los Angeles is obtained 
from the road which leads to the coast. Seen thence, the 
little town stands cleanly and elegantly at the foot of a 
hilly plateau, which abruptly terminates here, and, after 
the winter rain, is covered with grass and a rich flora of 
splendid flowers. A clear mountain-stream gushes forth 
from a gully which opens in the hills behind the town. It 

2 o 



562 LOS ANGELES. Book III. 

has its rise in a majestic chain of mountains, forming the 
background of the picture, and its waters irrigate the gar- 
dens and vineyards, which constitute the wealth and the 
chief attraction of the place. These gardens are shut out 
from view by impenetrable hedges, but within is seen a 
vegetation of extraordinary vigour, produced by the water 
of the little river, which is distributed in channels over the 
whole territory of these plantations. In general the. en- 
virons of Los Angeles are without trees ; but these gardens 
are veritable groves of fig, orange, and other fruit-trees, 
among which even the date is found, although not abun- 
dantly : almonds and olives flourish in the greatest per- 
fection. We can thus form a distinct idea of the character of 
this climate which, besides its mildness, is remarkable by its 
pure and invigorating air. Those who imagine that slavery 
is necessary in southern California from climatic reasons, 
meet with a complete refutation of their theory; for 
here we have a climate warm enough for the growth 
of sugar and cotton, in which the whites not only can 
work, but really do work with pleasure. The gardens 
of Los Angeles must be seen in autumn : then the 
golden lemons and oranges hang heavy amidst the dark 
foliage, the vines are laden with juicy grapes, indus- 
trious and well-dressed people sit in the shade, filling 
carefully thousands of tidy chests with the delicious 
fruit, spreading a sheet of fine blotting-paper between 
every two layers. This elegant carefulness is so thoroughly 
North American, and yet the whole scene is so foreign to 
the United States, that I hardly knew whither I had been 
transplanted. The few date-trees and the Levantine fruit 
remind us of the East, and yet the manner in which they 
are prepared for the trade belongs so much to the farthest 
West, that in this scene the extreme contrasts of the history 



Chap. IX. THE GRAPE. 563 

of civilization meet in a manner only possible in Cali- 
fornia. 

At the time of my presence, Los Angeles had, close to 
the town and in its environs, one hundred and twenty-five 
vineyards, yielding an average yearly produce of nine 
millions pounds of grapes. One half of this quantity was 
made into wine and brandy : about one hundred thousand 
gallons of wine were produced, of which the gallon w r as 
worth on the average two dollars. Fifty thousand dollars 
were paid that autumn to the proprietors for grapes shipped 
to San Francisco. 

The grape grown at Los Angeles is the Malaga- 
grape, of which either white or red wine is made ; but 
experience has shown that the climate of this region, as that 
of the State of California in general, is favourable to the 
growth of all the superior sorts of grape. There is a choice 
of situations answering every possible demand, from its 
northern to its southern frontier, as from the foot of the 
Sierra Nevada to the sea-coast. The unsuccessful attempts 
which have been made in the Atlantic States of the Union 
to cultivate the grape do not apply to California, since the 
climatic conditions on the coast of the Pacific are more 
analogous to those on the western side of the Old World. 
At all events, the sudden and extreme changes of the 
temperature, which render the climate of the Atlantic 
States so disagreeable and unfavourable for many branches 
of cultivation, are unknown in California. The country 
about Los Angeles will doubtless remain the chief place 
for the production of wine and fruit on the American 
coast of the Pacific. 

The manner in which the old Mexican inhabitants have 
carried on the culture and preparation of the wine is 
so imperfect, that a really good produce could not be 

2 o 2 



564 RESOURCES OF THE COUNTRY. Book IIT. 

obtained ; but connoisseurs agree that a proper treat- 
ment would produce a very superior article, which would 
be of repute in trade. Some Germans settled at Los 
Angeles seem desirous of giving their special attention to 
this subject. 

In the old Mission-gardens in the vicinity are still seen 
plantations of almond, olive, and date-trees, and new or- 
chards of this kind have been planted lately. Of the fruits of 
these trees, olives and almonds are seen on all Californian 
dinner- tables, — the former pickled, the latter as dessert ; 
but I have not seen dates grown in California, although 
the tree exhibits a vigorous growth in these southern parts 
of the country. Probably only the planting of both sexes 
of the tree sufficiently near to one another is required for 
the production of dates, as the climate is favourable 
to the culture of all other Levantine fruits. The orna- 
mental trees and shrubs of Italy and the Levant w T ould 
also do well here. Laurels, with trunks of an extraordinary 
thickness, are found among the evergreen trees growing in 
the defiles of the mountains on the Californian coast. This 
species is poisonous, and its exhalations are dangerous ; 
but the classical laurel of the Old World might un- 
doubtedly be planted in its stead, and the hedges round 
the gardens of Los Angeles, which now chiefly consist of 
willows, might quite as well be formed of myrtles, oleander, 
or pomegranate bushes, whilst the Italian pine and cypress 
would greatly increase the beauty of the landscape. 

The mineral treasures, which have given to California 
its chief importance, appear to abound less in the south 
than in the central and northern parts of the country. I 
cannot, however, assert more than that this appears to be 
the case. The want of water, so general in the southern 
half of the State, renders gold-washings either impossible 



Chap. IX. NO GOLD MIXES IN THIS PAET. 565 

in many points where, perhaps, auriferous alluvial masses 
may exist, or limits this possibility to a short time of the 
year. Since all attempts are thus rendered difficult, and 
there is little inducement to make any, much less attention 
has been devoted to this part of the country. Colonel 
Williams showed me some gold-dust which had been found 
on his own property (Colonel Williams's Kancho, or Santa 
Ana del Chino), and told me that he knew an auriferous 
quartz vein on the Cerro de San Antonio, which rises above 
the plain on which his estate is situated, and can be seen 
from Los Angeles. Gold had been found here even before 
Sutter made his important discovery in the central part of 
the State. I have already mentioned the auriferous gypsum, 
which I saw in a collection of minerals at Los Angeles, 
and I will only add here that this, likewise, was found in a 
southern locality — the Tejon Pass. During my visit to the 
State, the report that rich deposits of gold-sand had been 
discovered at various distances from Los Angeles spread at 
different times, and produced great excitement. But the 
result invariably was that gold did indeed exist, but in 
such small proportions as, according to Californian calcu- 
lations, not to pay the labour of procuring it, and that all 
the adventurers coining in flocks, attracted by the dis- 
covery, were fleeced by those who spread and fostered the 
excitement, and who quickly set up shops in the places 
which had obtained this artificial celebrity. And, as in 
such cases the assertions of the discovery were suspected, 
the opinions against it were no less so; and it has often 
been quite impossible to ascertain the real truth, except by 
personal inspection and experience in the operation of gold- 
washing. I am not sure whether the southern part of the 
State does not contain silver ore, it being well known that 
this is found in the adjacent part of the peninsula. 



566 SALT-LAKE — CATTLE BREEDING. Book III 

Among the mineral resources of California belongs com- 
mon salt, which is found abundantly in both forms, solid as 
well as fluid. Until very recently this article had been im- 
ported, among other localities, from the peninsula, on the 
coast of which exist layers of rock-salt. During my stay 
at Los Angeles I was asked to inspect a salt-spring on the 
coast, where the attempt had been made to establish salt- 
works. The space between the town and the sea consists 
of hills of the most recent formation, and is completely 
without trees ; in this respect the country exhibits the cha- 
racter of the prairies. Nevertheless, wherever the ground 
can be watered, it is adapted to agriculture. The salt- 
spring fills a small lake with saturated brine, so that the 
smallest evaporation causes crystallization. A spring of 
fresh water is on the edge of this salt-lake, and the 
whole is separated from the sea-shore by some sand-hills a 
few hundred paces wide, without however coming into 
contact with the water of the sea. With this situation, 
and the purity, concentration, and abundant quantity of the 
material, salt-works might have been carried on here most 
advantageously, in spite of the deficiency of fuel in the 
vicinity, had not, in this very part of the country, rich 
layers of rock-salt been afterwards discovered, which yielded 
the article even more cheaply. 

I have, in the preceding chapter, touched upon the im- 
portant subject of the breeding of cattle in the country 
behind Los Angeles. This section of the State comprises 
a large number of estates, each of which measures the 
extent of its area by square miles, and calculates the 
number of its cattle by thousands. On the whole, the 
Los Angeles county contained at that time about 100,000 
head of cattle, and 50,000 sheep. The breeding of 
the latter was a new thing, and the wealthy proprietors 



Chap. IX. INDIANS AND MEXICANS. 567 

were beginning to expend a considerable capital upon the 
breeding of a superior race. Large cattle for slaughter 
was fetching thirty dollars a-head. The breeding of cattle 
was carried on completely in the Mexican style, and even 
the new proprietors employed in preference old Californian 
herdsmen, of Mexican race, who perform their duties on 
horseback, and whose chief business it is, once a year, to 
collect together the branded cattle of the estate, to brand 
the calves with the mark of the proprietor, and to count 
over the whole of the herds and flocks. 

Hitherto the southern part of the State has been influ- 
enced only indirectly by the relations produced by the 
gold-washings and gold-mines of the northern half Those 
who have advocated a partition of the present State of 
California have argued from this difference in its con- 
ditions and interests. The wish to introduce slavery in 
the south is the chief motive, but the motive is by no 
means merely the wish to extend the political influence 
and increase the number of the Slave States. The real 
wants of this part of the country, whom the vicinity of the 
gold-mines, and the consequent very high wages deprive 
of all capability of prosecuting agriculture and the breed- 
ing of cattle, enter greatly into the question. This state 
of things is a severe punishment of the injustice and over- 
bearing with which the Anglo-Americans here, as every- 
where, treat the Hispano- American and Indian population, 
from whom alone could have been derived the labour suffi- 
cient for the wants of this part of the country. I believe, 
however, that the slavery-propagandists will succeed as 
little in their projects with California as in those with 
Mexico and Central- America. It will be easier and more 
advantageous, by a wiser system, — not such a one in which 
an abstract philanthropy and impracticable doctrine of 



568 MUEDEES. Book III. 

equality is combined with the most brutal insolence of 
.race — again to collect a population of Mexican and Indian 
labourers, whose natural position is that of a reasonable 
dependence to the large proprietors of the soil. It is at 
least my conviction, that undeniable wants and unchange- 
able conditions will produce in California classes of popu- 
lation with unequal political rights, without therefore leav- 
ing space to slavery, so that the course of the historical 
development in the United States will lead to three 
different forms of social organization. Under all circum- 
stances Los Angeles, with respect to commerce and inter- 
course, must one day acquire an importance independent 
of San Francisco, as it is the natural entrepot for the 
intercourse with the extended regions of the interior. 

At the time of my stay at Los Angeles, insecurity of life 
and bad morals prevailed to an extent by which the beauty 
of situation and climate, and other advantages of the place 
were counterbalanced, and quite a number of murders 
occurred in the short space of my sojourn. The fact of 
Indians being found dead in the streets at morning was 
scarcely thought of sufficient importance to constitute a 
case for a serious investigation. Those of the Indian tribes 
of California who have passed through the discipline of the 
ancient missions, and had acquired a certain civilization by 
this school, have sunk very deep in almost every respect 
since they have been left to themselves. In the streets of 
Los Angeles they could be seen gambling, intoxicated, 
quarrelling among each other, and often in the most dis- 
gusting situations. There were, however, other classes of 
the population not much above these wretches, under a 
moral point of view. Almost every night pistols were fired 
in the street under my windows, in consequence of disputes 
originating in gambling-houses and other places of ill 



Chap. IX. DEPARTURE FOR SAN FRANCISCO. 569 

repute. Los Angeles, in this respect, was far below San 
Francisco, where — through almost a year— I have passed 
the streets at any hour of the night without ever meeting 
with an accident or witnessing any suspicious proceedings. 
But it has just been the good police of the capital, the sum- 
mary executions of Lynch law in the mines, and in general 
the greater civil order in the northern section of the State, 
by which the most dangerous elements of the Californian 
population were driven south, especially to Los Angeles — 
the place of exit from the State in the direction of the wild 
and adventurous regions of the Colorado, the Gila, the 
State of Sonora and the Rio Grande. 

On the 30th of September I left Los Angeles for San 
Francisco. 

San Pedro, the port of Los Angeles, is but an open 
roadstead, and at the time of my embarkation on board of 
one of the Californian coasting steamers, only one building 
existed here, containing the offices and store-rooms of the 
principal forwarding and commission house of Los Angeles, 
together with some accommodation for travellers. 

The dense fogs, which during a great portion of the 
year are prevailing on the coast of California, deprived 
me of the opportunity of seeing the maritime scenery, 
which is said to be very interesting, the greater part of the 
coast being of a bold and varied character. The atmo- 
sphere, however, was clear when we came to Monterey. 
Here the coast is covered with a forest of pine-trees 
reaching down to the rocky beach. At some places it is 
interrupted by tracts of moveable sand, and we passed a 
line of cliffs covered with different species of seals. The 
rocks on the coast at Monterey are granite, quite alive, 
where they are under water, with flower-shaped mollusca 
fixed on them. Delicate sea-weeds of exquisite beauty of 



570 SITUATION OF THE TOWN. Book III. 

form and colour are strewed over the beach. A whale, 
caught not long before our arrival, lay close to the shore, 
and two others had been caught here a few weeks since. 
A whaling company exists here, exclusively fishing on this 
coast ; and another company has been established at this 
place for the purpose of fishing and salting sardines in the 
bay. Some Portuguese, I was told, have introduced this 
branch of industry in California. Herrings are caught 
and salted on the Californian coast more to the north ; and 
the same is the case with the salmon fisheries, and the 
salting of caviar, introduced in California by a native of 
Hamburg. 

On the morning of October 3rd, we entered the Golden 
Gate. Much had I heard of the grand scenery of the Bay 
of San Francisco, and I can only state that reality sur- 
passed my expectations. Steep mountains, covered with 
evergreen shrubs, and reminding much of the character of 
Alpine scenery in the region below the snow-line, but 
above the limit of trees, rise abruptly from the water on 
both sides, so as to impart something of the character of 
a mountain-lake to the bay, while hills of moveable sand, 
occupying some tracts of considerable extent, appear in 
strange contrast with this general tone of the landscape. 
From the water's edge the city rises on the side of several 
hills up to their top, and descends into the little valleys 
between them. Whatever splendid sites of cities other 
parts of the world may have to boast of, in North America 
the palm will never be disputed to San Francisco ; and in 
future times, when architecture will have come up to the 
grand style of nature and the wealth of California, the 
Queen of the Pacific will undoubtedly be mentioned 
among the localities of first reputation for their magnificent 
appearance. 



Chap. X. SAN FRANCISCO. 571 



CHAPTEK X. 

San Francisco — Elements and Character of Society — The Romance of Utili- 
tarianism — A List of Crime and Bloodshed — Points of Comparison — 
Californian Life distinguished by extraordinary Acuteness of Intellect 
and Energy of Action — Strange Remedies for strange Evils — Satisfactory 
Result of a social Experiment — Natural Character of the Environs of San 
Francisco — The Climate and its moral Influence — Excursions in the 
Vicinity — The Redwoods — Scenery of the Coast Range — San Jose — 
Artesian Wells — Quicksilver Mines of New Almaclen. 

San Francisco may be considered as representing the 
combined elements of Californian society. All classes of 
the population of the State, — all nations from which indi- 
viduals were drawn thither by the attractive power of 
gold, — all grades of human civilization, — every develop- 
ment of character which can take place under the con- 
flicting circumstances of a period of fermentation like the 
present, when the noblest and the basest qualities rise into 
prominence ; — all these fill the thoroughfares of the city. 
Every European, many Asiatic, and some American 
languages, meet the ear while you are walking in the 
streets. This apparent chaos of heterogeneous elements 
has been brought together, and is kept in motion, under 
the great form and system of Americanism, with its rest- 
less labour, its ever-active spirit of speculation, and its devo- 
tion to utilitarian purposes. Here, however, the realism 
of American life has become so complete that it may be 
said to have reached the zenith, where, like any other 
moral principle, it takes the character of its opposite, 
assuming a tinge of poetry and fiction. It is the romance of 
utilitarianism, which has its heroes just as well as a more 
ideal system of social interests — its heroes, its sufferings, 



572 ROMANCE OF Book III. 

and its great and glorious achievements. The trader's busi- 
ness in itself may be eminently prosaic; but when you see 
the stores of precious bars piled up in the banking-houses 
of San Francisco, while in the street before the windows 
are lounging about the bearded and weather-beaten men 
who brought the gold to daylight, you must confess that 
you are looking on a picture of wonderful fortunes and 
incidents, of adventurous life, of remarkable human cha- 
racter, and of extraordinary exhibitions of energy, in com- 
parison with which the fictions of a Eugene Sue are dull 
and trivial. And how wonderfully are all the figures in 
this grand composition, various as their forms may be, 
united into one harmonious whole by the influence of the 
prevailing tone ! The gentleman and lady in most 
fashionable attire, in splendid vehicle or on high-bred 
horses ; the simple man of business, with his acute 
and worldly-wise physiognomy ; the intelligent mechanic 
with the expression of independence and security in 
his trade, and with the consciousness of his dignity 
as a man and a citizen ; the European merchant, who 
has become a cosmopolitan during a previous residence 
in China, East India, Australia, Chili, Peru, or Mexico ; 
the smart Yankee, never without a scheme for making a 
fortune ; the slippery lawyer and the unscrupulous poli- 
tician and demagogue, hand-in-hand with the speculator 
and land-claimant; the scientific physician, who has re- 
ceived his education in the best schools of the United 
States and Europe, who has studied in Germany or at 
Paris ; the quack, who had been a barber in his native 
country, and is now transformed into a great doctor in this 
distant land of gold ; the man of scientific pursuits, with 
some specimens of newly-discovered plants, fishes, or 
insects; the projector of great enterprises in mining, metal- 



Chap. X. UTILITARIANISM. 573 

lurgy, and other branches of scientific research ; the miner, 
in rude and often wild attire — here what in other countries is 
the farmer, the fundamental cultivator of the land 5 the stage- 
actor and the clergyman of this or that sect and denomina- 
tion ; the gambler and the musician ; the German turner and 
singer ; the Mexican and the South American ; the cor- 
pulent Chinese merchant and the lank Cooley ; the prospe- 
rous Chinese courtezan and the low Chinese prostitute ; 
the Tartar and the Malay ; the Kanaka and the Society 
Islander ; the free Negro and Mulatto ; and, finally, the 
Californian Indian, formerly the lord of this rich land, 
and now the poorest and last of all its occupants : — it is 
truly miraculous that all these elements can coexist and be 
held together, while the law and government impose the 
least possible restraint upon the movement of every indi- 
vidual ! — Can it be a cause for surprise and indignation 
that in such a mixed society, extending through the whole 
State, even to regions were public authority exists only 
in name, crimes should be constantly perpetrated — that 
offences should be committed by the community as well as 
against it — that quarrels should sometimes occur between 
the different races ? The European who speaks with ab- 
horrence of a state of society such as that of California, 
only exposes his own poverty of experience and thought. 
Californian life, on the contrary, displays more encou- 
raging phenomena to the philosopher in search of evi- 
dences of the innate good qualities and future excellence 
of our race than any that can be discovered anywhere else. 
The most enlightened European community, according to 
my full and most conscientious conviction, could not exist 
upon a foundation so absolutely democratic, and with so 
little public authority, without social evils of a far more 
serious nature. 



574 LIST OF CHIME AND BLOODSHED. Book IIT. 

He who lives in an old and well-disciplined society, 
no doubt, has a right to say that he disregards the question 
whether men in Europe, under similar conditions of per- 
sonal equality and individual independence, would prove 
worse or better than in California. He has a right to 
declare that he does not like those conditions, however they 
may explain and excuse what he disapproves. This, in 
many respects is a matter of individual taste, in which I 
have no intention to interfere. My task here is merely to 
describe and explain. 

During my stay at San Francisco I collected from the 
newspapers of the whole State of California a list of the 
crime and bloodshed of a single week. Californian life, 
no doubt, has improved decidedly since that time ; 
but I repeat the enumeration here to show, by a state- 
ment of facts, the condition of society which then existed. 
The list runs as follows : — Suicide of Barrett. — At Sutter 
Creek shots are fired at a crowd, and a man is killed. — 
At San Gabriel, Americans, Mexicans, and Indians fire at 
each other, and several persons are mortally wounded. — 
Escobar and Sebado are executed. — At Bear Valley the 
Mexican inhabitants of the village make an attack upon 
several travellers : one of the latter is shot from his horse 
and stabbed to death. — The corpse of a Frenchman is 
found in the neighbourhood of the same village. — Two 
parties of Mexicans and Chilians fight about a woman, and 
two persons are killed. — A Mexican of Bear Valley, 
accused of being one of the murderers in the case above- 
mentioned, is arrested ; and, as he offers resistance, is 
killed. — Several Indians are hanged at Yreka. — Two white 
men are murdered at Scott's Biver. — Two muleteers 
are murdered on the road to Yreka. — In Sacramento City 
several persons are attacked in the streets. — At Shasta 



Chap. X. POINTS OF COMPARISON. 575 

one Mexican kills another with a knife. — An unknown in- 
dividual commits suicide at Bear Valley. 

Such a list of casualties may not be thought an at- 
tractive advertisement to draw Europeans to California ; 
yet, if crime and personal danger were as carefully pub- 
lished in Europe as they are in California, and in the 
United States in general, I think it would appear that 
certain European capitals are not more enticing, under a 
moral point of view. Comparisons of this nature, how- 
ever, are not very gratifying. 

Be this as it may, — at any rate I must say that according 
to my observations, there is as mucli humanity and bene- 
volence to be found in the mixture of Californian popula- 
tion as exists in the most cultivated European communi- 
ties. But, in California, even charity is managed in that 
proud style of American generosity which attributes no 
meekness to the needy and expects no thanks from them. 
In the Californian wilds a man may perish from want, — 
in Californian society not. That society is too proud to 
bear the existence of poverty in the land of superabundance. 

Whatever may be the moral estimate of the social ele- 
ments congregated from all parts of the world to form a 
new society in California — and many of the best and of 
the worst have contributed to the result, from the conscious 
man of business to the most reckless adventurer, from the 
scientific philosopher to the impudent charlatan, from the 
puritan missionary or moral reformer down to the high- 
wayman and the incendiary — however disproportioned may 
be their moral worth, two important traits of character 
were common to them : an extraordinary acuteness of 
practical intellect, and an unusual energy of will and 
action. Men without these qualities could not easily have 
found their way to that distant and adventurous region, 



576 STRANGE REMEDIES FOR STRANGE EVILS. Book III, 

or, if brought there by accident, could never have con- 
tinued to keep pace with its general tone of life. Some- 
thing approaching to these circumstances may exist in the 
gold regions of Australia, and more lately in those of British 
Columbia ; but even a society composed of similar ele- 
ments must be placed under the conditions of a self- 
government as absolute as that of California, to de- 
velop those eminent qualities to their full power. It 
is not without some foundation that Californians, more or 
less, assume the lofty pretensions of forming an elite, a 
society of men superior to others ; — a superiority, it is 
true, which may be characterized by bad as well as by 
good qualities. But if Californian life, accordingly, has 
had its extraordinary evils, it has found corresponding 
remedies to meet them ; and the improving energy on the 
one side has fully equalled the mischievous tendencies on 
the other. The insufficient wisdom of official legislators 
has been aided by the private laws and customs of the 
miners, strictly observed and enforced in their different 
districts ; and the insufficient integrity of judges, at a period 
when the bench was frequently occupied by unworthy 
characters, has been remedied by the direct interference of 
the citizens. Nobody doubts that innocent persons may 
have occasionally suffered supreme injustice from the irre- 
gular proceedings of excited masses ; but these proceedings, 
from the first turbulent crowd by which a poor fellow, 
guilty or innocent, was hanged to the next tree, up to the 
second " Vigilance Committee," by whom some old and 
incorrigible offenders were banished from the country and 
others executed, have cleared the State of a large proportion 
of its worst elements; and after it had once become more 
profitable to observe than to defy the laws of a decent and 
honest life, many a man who had been an enemy to social 



Chap. X. A SOCIAL EXPERIMENT. 577 

order became its zealous defender. In short the whole 
process of development through which the social life of 
California has passed in a few years, is a striking and most 
instructive instance of the origin, organization, and improve- 
ment of human society from motives of advantage and 
necessity ; while the result bears a strong testimony in 
favour of the political and social forms and usages of the 

rth Americans, without which the Californian experi- 
ment could never have succeeded. Xo European nation 
would have had sufficient experience and skill in self- 
government to answer the wants of a situation such as that 
of Californian society in its nascent state. 

Should the reader have expected to be entertained, in- 
stead of these general remarks, by a narrative of personal 
adventures, or by sketches of the extravagances and oddities 
of Californian life, I regret that I am unable to gratify my 
own wish to oblige him. While I have no space left for par- 
ticulars of that kind, other writers have enlarged upon the 
subject and have printed it in true and lively colours. 
Besides, the classical epoch of Californian abnormities had 
passed before I arrived. During my visit, tacks and nails 
were no longer paid for with an equal weight of gold, — an 
opera-box was to be had for considerably less than one 
hundred and fifty pounds sterling per month, — a fiddler had 
little chance of earning ten pounds in an evening for play- 
ing in a gambling-house ; and John Kelly, the Irishman, 
dressed in a green velvet coat with diamond buttons, carry- 
the big drum suspended from a heavy golden chain, in a 
public procession, was no more to be seen. The period of 
the great conflagrations, by which the whole town had been 
twice consumed, was likewise over. The first " Vigilance 
Committee, 55 after it had ordered several executions, lived 
only, like a dismal shadow that had passed over the town, 

2 p 



578 ENVIRONS OF SAN FRANCISCO. Book IU. 

in the memory of those who had not been members of it ; 
those who had, were bound by oath to keep their secrets. 
The time of the second Committee had not yet arrived. 
Nevertheless, some strange things happened during my 
stay at San Francisco, but the more remarkable of them 
were related at the time in American and European news- 
papers, and to repeat them here would be superfluous and 
out of place. 

The environs of San Francisco are of a highly interest- 
ing character. The scarcity of trees, which is general 
over a large portion of the State, is more calculated to 
heighten than to diminish the grandeur of the scenery, 
which is altogether of that higher order to which supple- 
mental ornaments are not essential. The outlines, bor- 
rowed from the North Mexican style of landscape, are 
bold, and endowed with a remarkable degree of plastic 
harmony, on which luxuriant vegetation produces no 
change. The hills and mountains around the bay are 
overgrown with shrubs and herbs, grass, wild oats, and an 
extraordinary variety of splendid flowers. The shrubs, 
for the greater part, are evergreens, of the growth of the 
myrtle and the laurel ; and, as the winter is mild and moist, 
the hills and mountains around the city appear more fresh 
and green in that time of the year than during the summer, 
when the savanas and oat-fields are dry. 

The climate of California, in general one of the finest 
in the temperate zone, varies materially in different sec- 
tions of the country. San Francisco, in this respect, 
suffers from local inconveniences produced by the break in 
the coast range at the entrance of the bay. The fogs 
which, during the summer, pass over the city every 
afternoon with monotonous regularity, are cold and un- 
pleasant. They do not extend, however, beyond a few 



Chap. X. CLIMATE OF CALIFORNIA. 579 

miles towards the interior, and never occur during the 
winter, which, in many respects, is the finer season at San 
Francisco. I have seen days. of this period when, after a 
shower of rain, the sky was as bright as on the table-land 
of Mexico, the air as balmy as on a morning in Nicaragua, 
and nature had all the freshness of a lovely May in Ger- 
many. Whoever has enjoyed such a day, walking along 
the hills in the rear of San Francisco, with the view over 
the bay and the mountains around it, will never forget its 
charms. Snow may occasionally fall in January, or a 
light frost occur during the night ; but I saw roses, pelar- 
goniums, fuchsias, and calceolarias flowering in the gardens 
of San Francisco at Christmas. 

It is an important feature of the climate of California in 
general, that it has a most favourable influence upon the 
energy of the mind as well as of the muscular system : 
the climate excites to activity. In this character it corre- 
sponds to that of the Mexican table-land and the interior 
of western Texas, but nowhere have I observed it extend- 
ing, in its full and undiminished influence, down to the sea- 
coast, except in California, even in the southern district. 
There — in a region where the orange, the olive, the fig, and 
the date grow — men feel as active and energetic as in the 
central and northern sections of Europe. This feature 
of the Californian climate cannot remain without an es- 
sential influence upon the future destiny of this favoured 
region . 

A footpath leads along the shore of the bay in a northerly 
and westerly direction from the city towards the Golden 
Gate, now passing over the beach where the zoologist 
can find a rich harvest of shells, of medusas and other 
mollusca, — now over rocks of serpentine, worthy of the 
attention of the geological explorer — now over a wilderness 

2 P 2 



580 4 THE REDWOODS. Book III. 

of sandhills, here overgrown with a variety of shrubs, there 
extending bare and barren like a little patch of the Sahara, 
or presenting a scanty but interesting flora of various herbs 
and flowers, highly attractive to the botanist. 

If the rambler continues his walks over the higher por- 
tion of the hills, in the direction towards the ocean, he will 
find himself at last on the brow of a perpendicular pre- 
cipice, with the waves of the Pacific breaking below his 
feet. Here, sitting on the very edge of the rock, he may 
look down upon the feats and gambols of different species 
of seals, slowly ascending, with the aid of the successive 
waves of a violent surf, the pointed cliffs that rise in the 
midst of its roar and foam ; till, on a sudden, the whole 
crowd, from the largest to the smallest, taking advantage 
of some mighty wave to carry them away from the cliffs, 
plunge down into the boiling sea, whence their round heads 
soon reappear in all directions, as they swim about to 
begin their pranks and frolics anew. 

Fifty or sixty miles to the south of San Francisco, on 
the eastern side of the coast range, is a region called the 
Redwoods. It derives its name from having been covered 
with a forest of the redwood pine, a sort of Taxodium very 
similar in growth and appearance to that other Californian 
species which has become famous by its gigantic dimen- 
sions, and which different botanists have called Taxodium 
giganteum, Washingtonia gigantea, and Wellingtonia gi- 
gantea. Speculation has long since taken possession of 
that region, and the greater number of the redwood trees 
of the locality have been brought to the ground by the axe, 
and transformed into boards and lumber of every kind by 
numerous saw-mills. The trade in lumber at that spot 
has given rise to a town called Redwood City. The 
mountains and hills of this region had been observed 



Chap. X. SCENERY OF THE COAST RANGE. 581 

to contain numerous small and irregular seams of ter- 
tiary coal, by which a company of citizens of San Fran- 
cisco had been induced to make investigations and 
trials as to the occurrence of this kind of fuel in a 
sufficient quantity, and under circumstances favourable 
enough to warrant the working of a coal-mine. The 
Company invited me to visit the locality ; and the little 
excursion, which was made about the middle of January, 
afforded an opportunity of seeing some very attractive 
spots on the eastern slope of the coast range. This ridge 
of mountains, with the strata of tertiary rocks inclined 
towards the interior of the country, is generally bare and 
rugged on its western, and wooded on its eastern side. Its 
little valleys, in that direction, are fresh and green, and of 
a wild and romantic character. While the more open por- 
tions of the country, towards the bay, are almost without 
trees, these secluded localities are overgrown with the most 
beautiful evergreens. Here the royal laurel, and the 
stately arbutus, reminding us of the classical countries 
round the Mediterranean, grow in company with the gigantic 
redwood pine, which made my thoughts recur to the dark 
valleys of the Black Forest, and the Thuringian moun- 
tains ; while the evergreen oak, forming little groves in the 
dale, or scattered over a grassy slope, carries the mind to 
the Sierra Madre of Sonora and Chihuahua. A little 
colony of Hungarian gentlemen have taken possession of 
some of the finest situations of that part of this region 
which I passed through on my way back to San Francisco. 
Commodious though small country-houses, surrounded by 
gardens and pleasure grounds, had sprung up in a wilder- 
ness still frequented by the lynx, the puma, and the grizzly 
bear. 

In the month of August, I made a trip to the little 



582 ARTESIAN WELLS. Book III. 

town of San Jose, and the quicksilver mines of New 
Almaden. 

San Jose is situated in a longitudinal valley between 
two parallel ridges of the coast mountains. This is a pro- 
longation of the space occupied by the southern branch of 
the bay, in a south-easterly direction. The water of the 
bay is very shallow on its extremity, and expands into 
swamps covered, during the winter time, by numberless 
geese and ducks. A steam-boat brings the traveller to the 
upper end of the navigation, whence he may take a place 
in an omnibus to San Jose. The road passes through a 
plain covered with fine fields of wheat, and bordered, 
on both sides, by steep mountains. Two little rivers, 
recognizable from the distance by the long line of trees 
following their respective courses, run along the base of the 
mountains, each on one side of the plain, and empty 
themselves separately into the bay, leaving the middle 
region of the valley completely without water, except by 
artesian wells, of which the most extensive use, and with 
the most satisfactory result, is made in the valley of San 
Jose. The town itself is abundantly provided with water 
by these artificial springs — every garden and almost every 
house having one of its own. This abundant supply for irri- 
gation in a climate naturally dry, and almost absolutely 
without rain during the summer, produces an extraordinary 
fertility and luxuriance in the gardens and fields of San 
Jose. I visited the establishment of a French horticulturist, 
who had dedicated a ground of many acres to the exclusive 
cultivation of roses, for which, as for other flowers, San 
Francisco has a rather extravagant taste, and is a very pro- 
fitable market. In this garden, an artesian well gave origin 
to a brook sufficiently copious to be distributed in nume- 
rous branches over the whole ground, and to irrigate all the 



Chap. X. NEW ALMADEN. 583 

different plantations of this extensive establishment, where, 
amongst other articles of a nursery, I saw a considerable 
number of young date-trees. 

From San Jose to New Almaden is a distance of four- 
teen miles. Several omnibuses pass daily to and fro 
between the two places. New Almaden, even in a 
country where civilization and the enjoyments of a more 
refined life are so recent, has already become a point of 
attraction for pleasure-parties from San Francisco. There 
is no want of good hotels at that little mining place, 
situated in a narrow valley between the steep hills of 
the coast range ; and so much are the Mexican miners, 
who are exclusively employed there, accustomed to the 
visits of travellers and excursionists, that as soon as you 
arrive, and without much reference to your wishes or 
intentions, you are invited to take place on a sort of hand- 
waggon, moving on rails, and away you are driven into the 
bowels of the earth. 

The road from San Jose to New Almaden passes over 
the continuation of the beautiful plain in which the former 
place is situated, in a southerly direction. As you proceed 
the aspect of the country becomes more and more inter- 
esting by the park-like character which the plain assumes, 
and the proximity of the mountains. Near San Jose the 
principal wild trees are willows and poplars, growing along 
the banks of the little river. Higher up large sycamores 
take their place, and begin to be scattered over the plain. 
By-and-bye several species of evergreen oaks appear 
amongst them ; until, at last, the whole extent resembles 
an immense orchard. Occasionally you encounter a small 
habitation and a tract of cultivated land, with wheat, maize, 
beans, squashes, onions, tomatoes, melons, and other veget- 
able productions. The Rancho de los Capitancillos, then 



581 QUICKSILYEE MINES. Book III. 

occupied by a Frenchman — who supplied us with an excel- 
lent breakfast of coffee, tea, chocolate, ham, eggs, roasted 
chickens, and other delicacies which no European would 
have expected in such a locality — is the finest site in this 
region. It forms an estate of one square league in extent, 
bordering directly upon the lands of the mining company 
of New Almaden. 

This little mining city, with its fine hotels, the neat 
houses of the inhabitants, who are all more or less con- 
nected with the principal occupation of the locality, the 
excellent condition of the road in the valley, and of the 
single street along which the buildings are erected, leaves 
a favourable impression on the visitor, and the whole 
establishment, almost elegant in its appearance, is highly 
creditable to the company to which it belongs ; the build- 
ings, without exception, being their exclusive property. 
On the opposite side of the brook, which runs through 
the valley, is a mineral spring containing much carbonic 
acid with a certain proportion of iron, and it is not impos- 
sible that New Almaden will become in time a fashionable 
watering-place for the San Franciscans. 

The mine is situated at a considerable elevation above 
the valley. We left our hotel at five o'clock in the morn- 
ing to ascend the hill. The road by which the quicksilver 
ore is brought down on waggons rises slowly along the 
mountain side, overgrown with a dense vegetation of shrubs. 
It took us three quarters of an hour to walk up. We 
found the miners, who are all Mexicans, just ready to 
begin their day's work. We were struck by the decent 
and comely appearance of these men, who were all well 
clothed and fed, and some of them had quite an in- 
telligent expression. They receive very high wages, at 
least the directors and owners of European mines will 



Chap. X. RETURN TO SAN JOSE. 585 

think so. According to their skill and application they 
are paid (or were then paid) from four to eight dollars a 
day, and thus, oven in California, could well afford to look 
respectable. The mine itself, though but of a recent date, 
has a number of shafts and tunnels extending to a consider- 
able distance into the interior of the mountain. How I 
attended the morning prayer of the miners in a subter- 
ranean chapel in the interior of the mine, before an altar 
of the Virgin cut out of the solid rock, I have described in 
an early part of this work. 

According to the remarks of Mr. C. Heusch, a German 
geologist and mining engineer, published in the Monterey 
Sentinel, the cinnabar, here as in other localities of this 
region, occurs in the veins of a quartzous conglomerate 
either in the porphyry or on the line of contact between 
eruptive and sedimentary rocks. 

When I returned to San Jose, I was astonished to see a 
stream of water rush through one of the streets, which had 
not existed two days before. The operation of boring an 
artesian well for the public use of the town had been suc- 
cessfully terminated in the mean time, and had produced 
the rivulet. 



2 Q 



586 EASTWARD BOUND. Book III. 



CHAPTEE XL 

Eastward Bound — Filibusters on board — William Walker — Return to 

NewYork. 

On the 20th of November, 1855, 1 embarked in the beau- 
tiful steam-ship Cortez, destined to San Juan del Sur. 

Besides a numerous company of cabin passengers of 
Californian gentlemen and ladies, there were about one 
hundred armed men on board, proceeding to join the army 
of William Walker, in Nicaragua. With some of them 
I was personally acquainted, and I can say that, though 
reckless fellows, they had many good qualities, and were 
seriously convinced that they had engaged in a glorious 
and praiseworthy undertaking. 

The course of our steamer lay close to the coast of 
Mexico and Central America. The summits of the gi- 
gantic cones of Guatemala, appearing above a stratum of 
clouds represented a picture of sublime grandeur. As we 
passed along the coast of San Salvador we could see, at 
tbree different localities, the action of volcanoes. At one 
place, violent emissions of smoke followed each other in 
regular intervals of time, each producing a globular cloud, 
which, after having been ejected abruptly as if by an explo- 
sion, rose slowly into the air. 

We arrived in the port of San Juan del Sur on the 3rd 
of October. Here William Walker had his head-quarters 
at that time. The men who had come from California in < 
the Cortez joined him there. 

I have nothing to add to my former remarks on San 



Chap. XI. RETURN TO NEW YORK. 587 

Juan del Sur, and on Nicaragua in general. I crossed the 
isthmus without delay. On the 5th I was at San Juan del 
Norte, where the boat from the river brought us directly 
alongside the steam-ship Nortliern Light, ready for sailing 
to New York. 

On the 13th I arrived at the latter place. 



THE END. 



LONDON: PRINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFOKD STREET, 
AND CHARING CROSS. 



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